The Polka-Dotted Pilgrims
by Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010
Summary: After being raised by Ruth in Kansas for the past four years Alan has a big role in in his 1st grade Thanksgiving Day pageant, the only problem is he and everyone else in his class came down sick. Alan feels heart broken when he thinks he can't take part in the play or see his family for the holiday as planned. However, a surprise reunion lifts the boy's spirit. Wee Tracy story.
1. The Polka-Dotted Pilgrims

It was a Wednesday afternoon at the Tracy Farm in Kansas. Ruth Tracy lived there with her youngest grandson Alan. Ruth had promised her daughter in law Lucy before she died that she would always watch over Lucy's children. Sadly, Ruth had been unable to uphold her end of the promise for the most part.

Lucy Tracy died in an avalanche four years ago when the entire family had gone skiing in Colorado for New Year's Eve. The young mother had died protecting her youngest son and baby Alan Tracy. When the accident had occurred, the entire family had been in shock. The cabin where Lucy and Alan were at had been reduced to nothing but splintered wood by the large wall of snow. Rescue crews searched for hours before locating an air pocket in the snow.

It was there that Lucy had been found. She was clutching a small bundle in her arms and begged that rescue crews take the bundle and return for her later. Lucy had been alive when rescue crews had found her. The bundle she was holding was her two and a half year old son Alan. He was soon to be three years old, and the family had wanted to let him experience the snow as a late Christmas present, so they took a family vacation to the Colorado slopes.

When rescue crews returned for Lucy, they found that she had gone quietly. She had stayed conscious long enough to pass off her baby to rescuers before allowing herself to slip into a coma where sadly she passed away due to internal bleeding. Jeff and the entire family were devastated.

After Lucy's funeral and Alan had been released from the hospital, Ruth stepped in as primary caretaker to her son's family. Jeff was inconsolable and the boys acted like entirely different people. Jeff couldn't look at Alan without having to leave the room in tears. The tiny baby looked like a male version of his mother and it broke Jeff's heart to see Lucy in his son's face.

Ruth tried to be a mother to all her grandsons, but chose to take leave when Alan's older brothers had blamed the baby for being the cause of their mother's death. Ruth tried talking to her older grandsons, but all of them blamed their baby brother. When Ruth tried talking to her son Jeff about it he had insinuated that he too had blamed his youngest for his wife's passing.

Ruth not finding the hostile household healthy for a two and a half year old growing boy decided to return to Kansas one week before Alan's third birthday with him in tow. That was how Ruth had come to be mother, father and grandmother to the small boy in her care. It wasn't until Alan had turned four the next year that Jeff and his sons realized how much they missed the youngest member of their family.

That was the first year since Lucy's passing that Jeff had expressed a want to see his youngest son again. Ruth had granted the desire and traveled out to Manhattan where Alan had a so-so homecoming. The small boy had no memory of who the people they were visiting were.

Alan had been just shy of three years old when he last saw any of his family and had refused any hugs or cuddles from people he deemed as strangers. Jeff was shocked when Alan kicked him in the shin for trying to hug the small boy, while Scott and his brothers felt hurt when Alan hid behind their grandma's legs and refused to look at any of his family.

Ruth just picked up the small towheaded boy and cradled him in her arms, much like how a mother would comfort a small child during a storm. Jeff and his sons watched as Ruth interacted with the small boy as any mother would. She cut up his food and fed him, gave him baths, and read him stories before tucking him in at night.

That was the routine over the years. Ruth enlisted the help of a couple local boys to help teach Alan how to ride a bike, since she couldn't run with him. She taught Alan how to read, and how to write his name before he was even of age to attend kindergarten. She was there for every fever and every boo-boo she kissed.

As Alan grew up, he gradually became accustomed to his family again. That is where it brings us now, to Tracy Farms in Kansas; where Ruth sat on her youngest grandson's bed cradling him in her arms.

"Grandma, I'm itchy. Can't I scratch it? Please?" Six year old Alan sat on his Grandma's lap swaddled in a blanket.

"No sweetheart, you can't. It will only make you itch more if you scratch." Ruth Tracy ran her fingers through Alan's hair and kissed his temple gently.

"Please? I promise not to scratch anymore after that!" Alan scratched the back of his head with his mitten hands. Ruth had no choice but to make the boy wear mittens to cover his fingernails when he refused to quit scratching.

Ruth gently pushed Alan's hand away from his head and the small boy pouted. He was super itchy, and his grandma wouldn't let him scratch his itchy limbs. "Sweetheart, stop. You'll only make the itch worse."

Alan stuck out his bottom lip and began to cry. He was hot and he was itchy. He was not a happy camper in the least little bit. Ruth picked up the small boy, and carried him to the living room. She had a call to make, and she was not looking forward to it.

Taking a seat on the couch, Ruth made sure to check if Alan's mittens were still on. They were, and Ruth readjusted the blanket that she had Alan swaddled in, before placing a call on the vid-phone to her son's recently constructed home on Tracy Island. Ruth smiled slightly at the sight of her son's face. He looked just like her late husband, and she knew without a doubt that all of his boys save for Alan would carry the strong Tracy looks.

"Hi, mom." Jeff smiled at his mom, before turning away from his computer to focus on his mother's face on the vid-phone.

"Hi Jeff, I hope I am not disrupting something important." Ruth ran her fingers gently through her grandson's shaggy blonde hair. The six year old had cried himself to sleep. It wasn't a surprise that he had either. The boy had been unable to sleep properly for the past two days due to the constant itch.

"Oh, no Mom; I'm done for the day. I was actually going to go finalize your flight in for the holiday." Jeff didn't seem to notice the little blonde head sleeping on Ruth's shoulder and she glanced over to see if the boy was still asleep. Satisfied that he was sleeping soundly, she cast a sorrowful gaze at her son on the vid-phone.

"I'm sorry Jeff, but Alan and I won't be able to make it up for Thanksgiving this year." Ruth Tracy sat in her living room talking to her only son and child Jefferson Tracy.

"Why? We were really looking forward to your visit mom. The boys are going to be crushed when I tell them you two aren't coming to visit." Jeff looked crestfallen at the news of Alan and Ruth's inability to visit.

"I wish things could be different Jeff. But Alan caught the chickenpox from the other kids in his first grade class and they are all out sick. Alan is more upset than I am sure the others will be. He was really looking forward to seeing you and the boys again." Ruth brushed the bangs away from her precious grandson's face and kissed his temple. The boy's cheeks were rosy with a fever and he was covered in spots.

"Aw, poor little guy. I remember when Scott had them at his age; they were not fun for him either." Jeff finally noticed his youngest son in his mother's arms before lowering his voice. "Is he sleeping?"

"Mm-hmm. He has so far had a rough two days. I had to pick him up from school the other day when the nurse called to say Alan had developed the chickenpox. I gave the boy an oatmeal bath immediately upon returning home and it didn't even seem to touch the itch." Ruth rocked the sleeping child in her arms, before looking back up at her son.

"Chickenpox is very tiring surprisingly. It's amazing how much energy it takes for someone to not scratch at the pock marks." Jeff shook his head, a sad smile on his face. "You know you two could still come to visit regardless of Alan being sick. John, Virgil and Gordon have all been inoculated and Scott has already had the chickenpox."

"I know, but I don't want to risk the other three catching it. Alan is running a fever and he is still quite contagious." Ruth pressed her palm against Alan's forehead as she spoke, before nodding in approval. His fever wasn't too high; perhaps it was getting ready to break.

"Yeah, but you know it would be good for them to at least be exposed to the virus. It will only strengthen their immune system." Jeff tried to coax his mother into coming regardless of Alan's illness.

Ruth appeared to be considering making the trip. She wanted to see her family again and she also wanted to talk to Jeff about the possibility of her and Alan moving back in with them at the end of the school year. Alan needed to get reacquainted with his dad and brothers and talking to them on the phone or visiting for a weeks holiday could only do so much to instill the family values into one so young.

"We'll see. I'll call you tomorrow to let you know whether or not Alan is feeling any better. If his fever is still high, I am going to need to turn down making the trip. Traveling with a high fever could only serve to make him sicker. However, if his fever is down or has broken then I will consider making the trip." Ruth shifted Alan; he had slowly begun to slide off his grandmother's lap.

"How is Alan doing otherwise? Is he enjoying the first grade?" Jeff was genuinely curious about his youngest son's life living in Kansas with his grandmother. The Tracy father missed his youngest son and continued to kick himself to this day for being one of the causes for Ruth taking the boy away to live in Kansas with her.

"He seems to be. He looks forward to learning. His progress reports are outstanding, and I have gotten several notes from his teacher explaining that Alan is very smart. I think he will go far in life one day Jeff." Ruth nuzzled her cheek into Alan's sweat dampened hair.

"No doubts there, mom. He is a Tracy after all." Jeff smiled at his mother and looked at Alan with eyes full of love. "Say Mom? What do you say that I and the boys come down to visit instead? Then Alan doesn't have to travel and he can just stay there and rest."

"If you want to Jeff. I know no matter how much I turn you down, that stubborn Tracy streak will only bring you and the boys to check on Alan and spend Thanksgiving Day with us here on the farm." Ruth shook her head in amusement at her son. He really did care about his youngest son; it only took him a while to awaken from the grief of losing his wife.

"Okay, we'll shoot for that then mom. There was actually something I have been meaning to talk to you about." Jeff hoped his mom would be privy to the idea of her and Alan returning to live in close proximity to the family. Jeff missed seeing his mom and baby boy so much, and his sons still beat themselves up over blaming Alan for their mother's passing. Alan hadn't been the cause of the avalanche or Lucy deciding to stay in the cabin with Alan.

Lucy at the time decided that she would rather curl up by the fireplace with a mug of hot cocoa and a good book rather than go out skiing. Alan staying with her had just been an added bonus for Lucy. The mother had been able to spend all morning and afternoon with her youngest and bond with him. Being the mother of four older rambunctious boys hadn't been easy and Lucy relished in the private bonding time she got to have with her baby.

"Oh? Please, do tell Jefferson Tracy." Ruth winked at Jeff. Whenever she used his full name, it was usually a sign that he would get in trouble, but the added wink just showed her being playful.

"You caught me mom. Okay, I was wondering if you and Alan would like to move back in with us. I miss the both of you and I know the boys would be ecstatic over your return." Jeff smiled at his mom. He hoped she would agree.

"Oh Jeff, of course we would love to return. I know Alan misses you all and I think it would be good for him to be closer to you guys. He is growing, and there are some things I can't be of help with. There are just some things a boy needs his father and older brothers to explain, not his grandmother." Ruth smiled in relief. Jeff had the same idea she had, and she was glad for that.

"I know mom. I still feel bad that you were put in a position where you felt this environment wasn't an ideal living situation for Alan and for that I want to apologize." Jeff offered up a sad smile as he watched his youngest son snuggle into his grandmother's arms. The boy's cheeks were a noticeable shade of pink and Jeff wanted nothing more than to be there for his son.

"You don't have to apologize Jeff. I know you and the other boys were still in shock over losing Lucy. It's in the past and time to move on." Ruth shifted Alan again to a more comfortable position, the boy had moved earlier and almost slid out of Ruth's arms to the floor.

"I know mom. But I can't help but to still feel bad. It couldn't have been easy on Allie. He didn't know what was going on. All he knew was one minute mommy was there and the next she wasn't." Jeff paused briefly before changing the subject. "So tell me, is Alan making friends yet?"

"No, he is much too shy for that. He has tried to approach kids on the playground, but they all call him cry-baby Tracy and chase him away. It hasn't been easy for him to make friends." Ruth paused when she saw Jeff's sympathetic gaze settle on Alan after hearing Alan's cruel childhood nickname before continuing in what she was saying. "I know he has one friend, but she is only here visiting on the weekend."

"He has a girl for a friend?" Jeff seemed astonished by Alan's choice in friends. All of his sons had a bunch a guy friends growing up; none of them liked befriending girls…all of them were convinced that girls carried cooties.

"Yes Jeff. She attends Sunday school with Alan. Sadly she doesn't attend elementary school with him; she only comes to stay with her father for the weekend before returning to Topeka with her mom." Ruth was sad that Alan couldn't make friends very easily, but being shy was another trait he got from his mother. She was painfully shy growing up; Lucy had openly admitted it to Ruth when discussing all of her boy's outgoing personalities. She had been pregnant with Alan at the time and claimed to know that Alan would be shy much like she had been.

Ruth smiled at the memory. When Ruth had asked how Lucy would know that Alan would be shy, the mother to be had said it was because Alan refused to reveal his gender when they had the ultrasounds. He was very demure, and would always turn in such a way that they couldn't identify whether he was a she or vice versa. Lucy was sure it was a boy, thus deciding on the name of Alan, while Jeff was convinced that the modest nature of the fetus meant it was a girl.

"Well, hopefully with you two coming back to live with us…he can befriend my newest employee's child. There is another little boy here who is two years younger than Alan and he is just as shy if not more so than Alan. Jeff hoped that maybe with Alan having a child his age on the island, that maybe he would settle in. "The boy's name is Fermat."

"Perhaps, but we won't find out whether any friendships will be formed until Allie and I get there now will we?" Ruth again had to shift Alan in her arms, and decided that maybe she could stop talking to Jeff for five minutes to go put Alan to bed. Alan was out like a light and didn't appear to be awakening anytime soon. "Jeff, if I may. I am going to go put Alan to bed and be right back. Perhaps you would like to freshen up your coffee and meet me back here in say five minutes?"

"I can do that mom. Go on ahead, and we can get back together here in five. Give Alan a hug from us and tell him we love him." Jeff waved at his mom, before watching her pick up his youngest son and slip out of the room.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Jeff stepped out of his office and made his way down to the kitchen. Upon arriving, Jeff was greeted with Scott, John and Virgil sitting at the table chatting. From the looks of things out the kitchen window, Gordon was swimming. Jeff walked up to the coffee pot and poured another cup, before waving absentmindedly at his three sons. Scott seemed to notice Jeff's lack of awareness and spoke up.

"Hey, dad what's up?" The sixteen year old boy was legitimately curious and Jeff couldn't hide the sad smile that appeared on his face.

"Nothing's wrong Scotty. I'm just talking to grandma and she stepped out to put Alan to bed." Jeff replied absentmindedly. He wanted to be there for his youngest and still felt bad about making his mom feel that taking Alan away had been for the best.

"But it's late afternoon there. Why is Alan going to bed right now? Shouldn't he be getting home from school at this time?" Scott sensed his dad wasn't telling him something and hoped it wasn't bad.

"Your brother came down with the chickenpox and has been home from school for the last two days. According to grandma, the entire first grade is out with the virus." Jeff leaned against the counter before taking a sip of coffee.

"Poor Sprout, I feel for him. When I had them, it drove me up the walls." Scott gazed at the floor sadly. He felt bad for his baby brother.

"Al's sick? But grandma and Allie were going to come visit us for Thanksgiving!" Virgil cried out. The disappointment on the boys' faces was blatant.

"Yes Allie is sick. That is why grandma called; she was calling to inform me that they wouldn't be able to make it because of his still being contagious." Jeff smiled sadly at his three older boys; they were all really looking forward to seeing their baby brother again.

"Can't I fly out there to visit then? I've already had the chickenpox, so I can't possibly catch it again." Scott pleaded with his dad to let him go, Jeff's reply surprised all the boys.

"That's why I offered to come down with you boys. We will go to grandma's house instead of them coming here and spend the week there with grandma and Allie. Johnny, Virgil and Gordy have all been inoculated against the virus, so the chances of them catching it are low." Jeff smiled serenely at his sons when their faces lit up at the thought of seeing their baby brother again.

"When do we leave?" John spoke up and he appeared to be excited over the prospect that Alan would be surprised by their arrival.

"We'll leave tomorrow evening and get there early Friday morning. Then we'll stay until the following Saturday. How does everybody like that plan?" Jeff began walking out of the kitchen to return to his office. It had been almost five minutes since he last spoke to his mom, and she should be returning from putting Alan to bed.

"Where you going dad?" Virgil seemed almost sad, Jeff had planned a day out on the beach with his boys and it appeared that he was returning to work in his office.

"I am still talking to grandma. She took a few minutes to go put Alan to bed so I came down to get another cup of coffee." Jeff looked over his shoulder at his sons. "We'll have a family meeting tonight so we can discuss the plans for our upcoming trip. Be sure to inform Gordy of the change in plans."

"Okay dad, we're still going to the beach later right?" Scott was excited about spending the day on the beach with his dad and brothers…they didn't get to do it as often because of their dad's work schedule.

"Yes Scotty. After I'm done talking to grandma we'll go." With that Jeff stepped out of the kitchen to return to his office. It had been a little over five minutes and he didn't want to upset his mom by leaving her to wait.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Arriving back in his office, Jeff was greeted with his mother's serene looking face. He couldn't help, but to smile at her beautiful smile she gave him. He loved his mother dearly, and often times didn't know what he would do without her.

"Hi mom. Sorry I'm late, Scotty and the boys wrangled me into a conversation." Jeff set his coffee cup on the coaster on his desk.

"Not to worry Jeff. I was late also. I just got off the phone with Alan's teacher." Ruth had a look of contemplation on her face. It made Jeff wonder why Alan's teacher would call.

"Is everything okay? Why did she call?" Jeff grew concerned that maybe Alan had gotten in trouble before he got sick…that might be something his mother wouldn't tell him about.

"Ms. Peyton was calling to inform me that the PTA decided to go on with the Thanksgiving Day pageant. Apparently the chickenpox was a school wide epidemic, and several teachers have had to send kids home because there simply aren't enough children to consider holding class." Ruth picked up her notebook she had written notes in, from the phone call earlier. She didn't miss Jeff's curious gaze.

"Mom, why would Ms. Peyton have contacted you about the Thanksgiving Day pageant? You aren't part of the PTA." Jeff's confusion was obvious enough to make Ruth literally laugh out loud.

"Actually I am a part of the PTA. Ms. Peyton knew Alan was out sick and that I was home caring for him, so she took notes on what was discussed. The pageant will be a whole variety of plays the afternoon before Thanksgiving." Ruth smiled…she and Alan were going to fly out the evening after his pageant to spend the week with Jeff and the boys on the island, but then Alan came down sick and it just wasn't feasible. Alan was disappointed to miss doing the pageant, but plans changed.

"So was Ms. Peyton just calling to give you the minutes from the PTA meeting?" Jeff felt so confused about the point of Ms. Peyton calling just to transfer the meeting minutes…his mother could have obtained them at the next PTA meeting.

"Well, yes and no. You see Ms. Peyton is Alan's teacher and because her entire class is out sick with the chickenpox, as well as a majority of the school the PTA decided to go on ahead and hold the pageant." Ruth gazed at Jeff to see his eyebrows rise up.

"So is that all? She was calling to inform you of the decision to go on with the show?" Jeff clearly didn't understand the point of this conversation. Ruth rolled her eyes at Jeff.

"Dear, Alan is to be part of the pageant. Because of the change of plans, you all will be here to see his pageant. Alan has a big role, and when I tell him he still gets to do it…he will undoubtedly bounce off the walls." Ruth smiled, Alan would be very happy, despite having chickenpox.

"Really? So what is the name of this play? Who does Alan perform as?" Jeff remembered all the times when he was growing up. He had been forced to take part in holiday pageants and they had been fun until he turned twelve…then it became a bore.

"The PTA and Ms. Peyton decided to change the name of the play. It had originally been called the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, but due to all the children having chickenpox they decided to call it "The Polka Dotted Pilgrims". I think it is cute, and the parents all thought it was appropriate. As for what role Alan plays, he will be the founder of Plymouth Rock." Jeff chuckled at the new name of the play. It sounded like it would be fun for the children.

"Well, I am sure with Alan performing such a big role, the play will undoubtedly be very good. I am looking forward to it." Jeff would have continued speaking, but somebody rang Ruth's doorbell.

"Oh Jeff, I am sorry…that must be Page and her dad. You remember Carl from high school don't you? Well, he is the father to Alan's little girl friend from Sunday school. Carl and his ex-wife Jasmine agreed it would be for the best that Page be exposed to the chickenpox…so Page will be staying the weekend here with Alan and me. It'll be a regular old chickenpox party here when you arrive. See you soon, I love you and be sure to give my boys a big hug from Grandma and Alan." Ruth stood, and walked to the door before hollering "coming" to the person behind the door. "Bye, Jeff."

"Bye mom, I love you too. See you Friday morning." With that Jeff signed off. He shook his head at his mom's mentioning of Alan's Sunday school 'girlfriend'. How could he forget Carl? They had been good friends in high school, they turned their small Kansas town upside down and probably got into a lot of trouble doing it too.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Jeff left his office and strolled down the hall to go meet with his sons. They were going to go down to the beach and spend the rest of the afternoon down there. The boys were looking forward to it. He couldn't wait to see Alan and his mom again. No doubt the boys already had their bags packed and were ready to go. Within the next 24 hours, all of them would be watching the clock…waiting for it to strike 8:00 in the evening. Rounding the corner he was met with Virgil sitting on John's small suitcase. John had packed enough clothes to last a week, and had packed some small parcels to give to Alan. They had missed his sixth birthday party, and John wanted to give them to his ailing brother sooner than later. John was trying to zip up the suitcase; Jeff went over to lend a hand.

"So, packed and all ready to go?" Jeff smiled when John nodded excitedly. It was obvious he was looking forward to seeing his little blonde mini-me brother and grandmother again.

"Absolutely dad! I wish we were leaving tonight though." John with Virgil and his dad's help finally got the suitcase zipped up.

"Well, go put your suitcase in the hallway closet near the front door. It will be less likely to be tripped on or forgotten there." Jeff tousled John's platinum blonde hair. The fifteen year old chuckled, before smoothing back his hair.

"Roger that dad. Come on Virge; let's go get your bag packed too. I'll help you." John stood up, before grabbing the handle of the bag and hauling his bag with him.

"All right Johnny. Thanks for the help!" Virgil jogged ahead of John. The older blonde chuckled at his little brother's enthusiasm. It was obvious the thirteen year old Virgil was just as excited to see his little brother and grandma.

Jeff merely shook his head and continued down the path. Eventually he found Gordon throwing various clothing items into a small suitcase. To Jeff it looked as if an atom bomb had gone off in his second youngest son's bedroom. Clothes were everywhere, and from the looks of things…Gordon didn't care if his clothes got wrinkled…Jeff however knew that his mother would have a fit if he or any of his sons wore wrinkled clothing. He decided to fold Gordon's clothes and help the eleven year old pack his suitcase correctly.

"Oh hey dad!" Gordon was practically bouncing around the room. The redheaded whirlwind looked like he had been given a glass of sugar water, after being given a triple shot coffee... the kid was HYPER!

"Hello Gordy. Need some help?" Jeff's eyes had gone wide at the utter destruction in the bedroom.

"Sure!" Gordon laughed. The eleven year old seemed very excited.

"Well, let's get to it son." Jeff quickly helped Gordon sort out his luggage. Before leaving though, he helped Gordon tidy up his room.

"Thanks for the help dad!" Gordon threw the last of his dirty clothes into a laundry basket which Jeff quickly picked up. They might as well get the laundry done before they took a weeks' vacation.

"Gordon please go put your suitcase in the hallway closet by the front door. I would hate for you to not have any clothes for a week." Jeff walked ahead of Gordon, carrying his second youngest son's laundry basket.

"Okay dad." Gordon ran ahead of his dad. He was very excited to go see his little brother. Even at eleven years old, he couldn't help but feel guilt at blaming his baby brother for the death of their mother. It was nobody at fault…Mother Nature just decided to be cruel.

After Jeff placed Gordon's clothes into a wash cycle, he was quick to go gather his sons for their outing at the beach. It would do all of his sons good to burn off their excitement over their change in plans swimming in the ocean and playing on the beach. He couldn't wait until his youngest son and mother returned to the island themselves.

"Come on boys, let's go!" Jeff hollered at the bottom of the stairs, he couldn't stop the laugh when they all raced down the stairs…eager to begin their outing on the beach.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

After disconnecting the call with Jeff, Ruth hurried to the front door. She didn't want to keep whoever was waiting at the door too long. Upon opening the door, Ruth was greeted with a very wiggly child, her black hair flowing down her back in ringlets. Ruth greeted Carl and his daughter Page.

"Hello Carl, Page. How are you two this afternoon?" Ruth smiled at the nearly identical pair. Page inherited her father's tan complexion and black hair. She however inherited her mother's brown eyes.

Page was given the week off from school for Thanksgiving and she opted to spend her vacation with her dad. However when she asked to play with Alan, Ruth had been forced to say no. When she explained to Carl and Jasmine that Alan was sick with the chickenpox, the two parents both agreed that Page needed to be exposed to the virus; thus the impromptu slumber party out on the farm. Carl would be picking up Page Saturday afternoon. Her parents hoped she contracted the virus so she wouldn't need to deal with it later.

"We're good Mrs. Tracy! How are you?" Page was practically bouncing where she stood. She wanted to see her best friend from church.

"I am fine dear. Alan is laying down for a nap right now, but you are more than welcome to go to the kitchen to fix yourself a glass of milk and a plate of cookies. Alan should wake up in a little bit." Ruth raised her arm when Page flew past her. The little five year old girl was apparently very excited to spend several days with her friend. "Are you sure you and Jasmine are okay with arrangement Carl? I would hate for Page to contract the chickenpox and be just as miserable as Alan."

"It's just fine ma'am. It will be good for Page if she catches it now before she enters the first grade next year. Might as well get it out of the way now, right?" Carl smiled at the elder woman.

At one time he referred to Ruth as mom…but that was when he was close with her son Jeff. After they graduated from high school, Jeff and Carl fell out of touch. It wasn't long before Carl heard that Jeff ran Tracy enterprises and had five sons with the woman of his dreams. Sadly he heard that Jeff's wife and youngest son were victims in an avalanche, one that claimed his wife's life and almost took the life of the Tracy baby.

"Okay, well if you're sure. By the way when you come to pick up Page on Saturday, perhaps you and Jeff can reconnect. He is bringing the eldest four to come visit for Thanksgiving." Carl nodded grimly at what Ruth said. He was aware of the slight falling out the family had. Jeff had been so broken up over his wife's passing that he refused to look at his youngest son. Ruth had told him and Jasmine that the situation had been precarious immediately following the aftermath of the avalanche.

"Yes, I am positive. Here is Page's backpack, she has enough clothes to last until Saturday and her toothbrush and toothpaste are in the front zipper pocket." Page must have been listening from the kitchen because she came running out from the kitchen and gave her dad a hug. "You, be good for Ms. Ruth now you hear? Have fun, and if Alan doesn't feel like playing at all, don't force him. Remember he isn't feeling well. I will see you on Saturday. Love you baby." Carl kissed Page on the forehead and she gave him butterfly kisses.

"Love you daddy! Give mommy a hug for me 'kay?" Page didn't understand the concept of divorce, but Carl promised to send his ex-wife Page's love.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

The entire day passed by very quickly for both families. Alan and Page played and eventually fell asleep holding hands while watching a movie. Ruth gathered pillows and blankets before getting the kids comfortable. Page had already changed into her pajamas, now both tykes were fast asleep.

Jeff on the other hand, several thousand miles away was fixing dinner for his four boys after their beach outing. He needed to get everybody fed, and off to bed. They would be cleaning the house up the next day in preparation of the absence and Jeff knew that in the event of John, Gordon and Virgil contracting the chickenpox nobody would feel up to cleaning. After dinner was fixed and consumed, Jeff retired to his office. He placed a call to his mother's house. It was getting late, and he wanted to find out how Alan was doing.

Upon answering, he was greeted with Ruth…she seemed to be muttering softly to someone. It confused Jeff until he recognized the voice.

"But grandma! I'm hot and itchy!" The voice sounded miserable and Jeff identified it as his baby Alan.

"I know sweetheart, but if you would hold still I can finish with the calamine lotion." Ruth glanced up at the screen briefly before speaking to Jeff. "Hello Jeff. Sorry, I am a little busy at the moment. Alan woke up and his fever spiked a little." Jeff caught sight of a little tuft of blonde hair and smiled sadly.

"The itch getting worse?" Jeff felt bad for his baby. Jeff had the chickenpox himself once…so he too could sympathize. The unending itch was maddening.

"Yes." Ruth picked up the child and placed him on her lap before removing his pajama top. Jeff winced when he saw how many pock marks the little one had on his torso alone. "Hold still sweetheart, the calamine lotion should make you feel better soon." Ruth dabbed the pink medicine over the pock marks, and Jeff watched sympathetically as Alan attempted to scratch at his neck.

"Hey buddy, don't scratch those." Jeff tried speaking to his son. The little blonde looked at his dad, before he began to cry. "What's the matter buddy?"

"I wanted to see you! Now I won't get to." Alan rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. Jeff watched as the little blonde poked out his bottom lip. "I miss you daddy!"

Jeff looked at his mom, before smiling in sadness. She had waited to tell Alan the good news. Jeff almost couldn't contain his excitement. The little blonde kept crying, and Jeff wanted to just cuddle him. Jeff looked up when he heard his office door creak open. All four of his older sons must have heard Alan's pitiful crying and came to investigate.

"Allie, what's the matter?" Scott immediately noticed his baby brother's tears and jumped in to diagnose the problem. He could see the pock marks all over Alan and he frowned. Scott hadn't had them nearly as bad as Alan had.

"I-I don't feel good and I won't get to see you guys until next year!" Scott tilted his head before looking at his dad. His dad was making the universal sign of quiet by placing his forefinger in front of his mouth.

"It's okay sprout. Maybe I'll fly out to come visit you for Christmas. Would you like that?" Scott was trying to abate his baby brother's tears without giving away the apparent secret. Scott covered his mouth to hide his smile when Alan looked up at the screen, his bottom lip poked out and tiny tear tracks coursing down his face. Despite the red pock marks, Scott thought his baby brother was absolutely adorable.

"No! I wanted to see you guys after the play! Now I won't get to." Alan balled up his fists and began scrubbing at his eyes. The tears started streaming faster and the boys and Jeff watched as Ruth began rocking the fussy boy. Being sick was never fun, especially when there was little anyone could do to help.

"Alan? What's the matter?" Scott and his brothers heard a small tinny voice before their blonde baby brother was blocked by a small black haired child. Scott noticed the black hair was pulled back and braided in twin pigtails. The child with black hair was a little girl.

"He's okay dear; he's just uncomfortable right now." Ruth started to pet the little girl on the head after setting Alan back down on the floor. Scott watched as the girl child hugged Alan.

"Hugs make it all better! Least that's what mommy says!" The girl didn't seem bothered that she was currently hugging a very sick little boy. "Come on, let's go finish the movie." Alan nodded and didn't wait around to get his pajama top put back on before the little girl led him away by the hand.

"Who was that grandma?" Scott was utterly confused now.

"That is Alan's little friend Page from Sunday school. She is spending a couple days here with Allie and me." Ruth smiled when Page began singing along to the movie playing in the background. Ruth turned around to see the energetic child was copying the dance and singing 'Do-Re-Mi' from The Sound of Music.

"What's going on mom?" Jeff was trying not to smile when he heard Alan join in the song quietly. Ruth turned the screen so Jeff and the boys could see Page trying to cheer Alan up. She had effectively managed to get him to dance with her. The little girl was twirling her nightgown around and began skipping around Alan. "What is she doing?"

"What does it look like Jeff?" Ruth chuckled when the previously miserable boy began chasing the little girl around the living room…both children continuing to sing along to the movie.

"They are so cute together." Jeff commented as he watched Alan begin dancing with the little girl.

"They have watched this movie four times today. I am pretty sure they know the words by heart now." Ruth laughed earnestly when Page grabbed Alan's hand. The little girl tried to curtsy and Alan bowed to her before skipping around the room.

The family continued watching the mini performance. Both children seemed to forget that Alan wasn't feeling well and after a while both kids fell asleep again. Ruth stood up briefly to place pillows under the heads of both children before draping a blanket over them. She shut off the movie again, and returned to talk to the family.

"I can't believe Alan has already slept with a girl…he isn't even old enough yet." Jeff spoke without thinking. The look he received from his mom was enough to make his skin crawl.

"That is enough out of you Jefferson. It is completely harmless. Besides, Page's parents are hoping Page catches the chickenpox, remember? The more contact she has with Alan, the better her chances are of contracting the virus so she can get it out of the way." Ruth gave a pointed look at her son.

"You're right. I'm sorry mom." Jeff quickly apologized to his mom, and noticed his older sons looked sad. "What is it boys?" Jeff asked them and Ruth watched them carefully.

"Allie doesn't know we are coming to visit?" Scott seemed hurt. All four of the boys watched as in the background Alan rolled over, placing his head right next to Page's head. If the two children were any closer, they would be kissing.

"Oh, no I'm sorry honey. I never got the chance to tell him. Page's dad dropped her off while Alan was napping. When he woke up, they immediately began playing and at dinner…Alan ate some soup in the living room with Page. I rewound The Sound of Music for them and they fell asleep before I was able to serve dessert." Ruth peered at her grandsons and smiled. She had planned on telling Alan before Page showed up, but her dad got there early and dropped her off ahead of schedule.

"Are you going to tell him tomorrow?" John looked at the screen, but talked at his grandma without looking at her. He felt bad for his little brother. The poor kid shouldn't need a friend to comfort him when he felt bad, he needed his family. "Is Page only staying one night?"

"I do plan on telling Alan tomorrow…provided that he and Page are not just going, going, going tomorrow. And in answer to your question Johnny…no Page is staying until Saturday afternoon. You boys should get to meet her Friday when you get here." Ruth grinned wryly at her grandsons. None of them had a girl for a friend when they were growing up.

"Okay, well…I had better let you go mom. You get some rest and we'll see you early Friday morning." Jeff knew his mom must be tired having to deal with two small children…one sick and the other quite energetic.

"All right Jeff. I will come to pick you boys up Friday morning. I am sure if I don't get to tell Alan tomorrow, it will be a nice surprise for him. He was so looking forward to seeing you all again." Ruth noted that Jeff and the boy's moods seemed to lift when they heard how sad Alan had been, they weren't the only ones facing disappointment. "I love you all, and you get some sleep yourselves. See you Friday."

"See you on Friday mom. Don't worry about picking us up. I can arrange to pick up a rental. There is no need to haul Alan and Page out of bed to come get us. You never know, by tomorrow you may be dealing with two sick kids." Jeff watched his mom as she gazed over her shoulder at the two slumbering children.

"Well, we'll see. But okay, I will let you get a rental. Good night boys, Jeff. Love you all." Ruth blew a kiss to her boys, and they returned the regards before signing off. It was so far a very eventful day. Within the next 24 hours Jeff and his boys would be airborne and Ruth would have her hands full taking Alan to his little practice to go over his lines with his class. It was only about a thirty minute play and Alan didn't have very many lines to memorize. Then she would need to get the kids ready for bed.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: As promised, my latest story which I've worked on for the past year...this is chapter 1 of 5. Hope you've all enjoyed this wee Tracy story chapter...I'll try to post chapter 2 after I finish my shift at work later this evening. Hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels if you are traveling.**_

_**~Angel~**_


	2. Hugs Make It All Better

Jeff hustled his sons down the ramp of their private jet. All four of the boys had slept on the flight over, but waking up at five in the morning to drive out to the Tracy family farm was not ideal for the boys. None of them were morning people. Jeff tousled the half asleep Scott's hair. The older boy was practically sleepwalking. Thankfully the drive to his old family farm wasn't a long one…perhaps a half hour drive.

"Come on boys…you can sleep in the car." Jeff unloaded the boy's luggage from the baggage hold and gave it to the respective boy. All four of them walked to the rental car half asleep, dragging their suitcases along behind them. Jeff was tired too, but he could last until he got back to his old home and then he would crash on his mom's couch.

She told him she would be up to show them to their rooms, and then she would work on mending Alan's costume. According to Jeff's mom, Alan was still pretty short for a first grader and the sleeves on his pilgrim costume were way too long, as were the pant legs. None of Jeff's older sons were aware that Sunday afternoon they would be attending a play that their little brother had a role in.

"Okay dad." Scott managed to open his eyes long enough to open the trunk and place his luggage inside before going to the front passenger seat. He got in and got seat belted in, and fell asleep immediately.

Jeff laughed at his sons who all acted like they were the walking dead. This week proved to be interesting so far. But Jeff couldn't wait to see his little boy again. He spoke to his mom intermittently and from what she said, Page had not yet caught the virus, but she stayed in constant contact with the ill boy. Alan on the other hand seemed to be just downright miserable. His fever remained at a constant and the only thing that really served to dull the itch was a soak in the bath…but Alan couldn't just stay in the water….he became bored too quickly.

Starting the car, Jeff double checked to make sure each of his boys had their seatbelts on, before putting the car in drive and going 'over the hills and through the woods' to get to grandma's house. The drive was quiet, the sun wasn't close to rising yet and yet Jeff couldn't help but to feel nostalgic. He had always enjoyed the early mornings when he was growing up, it was always when he got to help his dad tend to the farm and care for the crops.

Jeff reflected the entire drive and before he knew it he was turning down a very familiar stretch of road. He only had a couple hundred yards to go before he and his sons could see their family. Upon pulling into the front yard, Jeff felt himself sigh deeply. He had missed the farm. The island was nice, but it had taken some getting used to. He shut off the car and nudged Scott gently.

"Boys, we're here. Wake up!" Jeff chuckled when the porch light came on. He knew his mom was up. But the question was…was Alan awake? It was still too early for the six year old to be awake, but he always seemed to have a sixth sense. He was able to sense the presences of people entering a room and would come investigate…no matter how quiet you were.

Scott woke up, and rubbed his eyes. Peering over his shoulder he noticed his younger brothers were doing the same thing. They all desperately wanted to go back to bed, but they were slowly waking up. They had fallen asleep almost immediately after boarding the flight and slept up until the jet landed.

"Okay dad. Guys let's go." Scott assembled the troops and opened the car door. Slipping out, Scott made his way around to unload the luggage. He wanted to take a shower…the feeling of grime still sat heavily on his skin after the long day of cleaning the villa the day prior. Scott passed the luggage to each of his brothers and dad before shutting the trunk. They all quietly made their way to the porch and were greeted with the dim lighting in the hall.

"Good morning boys." Ruth opened the door and allowed her son and grandsons in out of the nippy morning air. "How was the flight?" Ruth could see the boys were all very tired, but none more so than Jeff. Jeff looked exhausted, and rightly so. He had always been an early riser and he had undoubtedly woke up early the morning prior and helped the boys to clean the villa before flying the private jet for the last nine hours.

"Good morning mom. The flight was good…quiet, but good." Jeff gave his mom a hug before stepping away to put his suitcase in the closet. He could grab it later, now he wanted to just go get some sleep. He was very tired, and wanted to be at least coherent when he got to see his little boy again. It had been almost a year since they last got to see him.

"You boys look exhausted. Why don't you all go get some sleep? We can talk later. Jeff, be careful going in there. Alan and Page are asleep on the floor." Ruth was quick to warn Jeff to watch his step. The living room was dark and it would be awful if he accidently stepped on either his son or his son's friend.

"Thanks for the warning mom. I think I will sleep on the couch for now. Night boys." Jeff tousled each of his son's hair before he slipped his shoes off and made his way through the living room sock footed. He stood a better chance of feeling the blankets that the kids slept on sock footed rather than wearing shoes. After locating the couch, Jeff settled down for sleep; he quickly lost himself to the realm of dreams.

Ruth ushered all of her other grandsons off to their old bedrooms, before setting about taking care of the chores. The hour passed by quickly and she still had so much to do. She decided to make a nice welcome home breakfast for her boys and knew that Alan and Page would be waking within the next hour…the little tykes both went to sleep early the night prior and if Ruth knew her youngest grandson…which she did, he would be waking at about sunrise. It didn't matter if he had school, was sick or if it was a holiday…Alan always managed to awaken a little after seven.

Ruth pulled out her ingredients for breakfast and began building a meal fit for a king. She got lost in her cooking and didn't notice a tall straggler had entered her midst. She almost dropped the bowl of whipped eggs when the tall straggler spoke.

"Is there anything I can do to help grandma?" Ruth turned around to see Scott. He was more awake than he had been an hour ago.

"No Scott dear. Why don't you go back to bed, the jet lag will be a little less harrowing if you get more rest." Ruth received a hug from her oldest grandson and she rubbed his back. When she pulled back she smiled. He was the spitting image of his father when he was Scott's age.

"I'm fine grandma. I couldn't possibly sleep anymore even if I tried. I fell asleep while on the flight over here." Scott sat at the kitchen table. He looked around and spotted the refrigerator. There were various drawings from his baby brother stuck to the metal with magnets. Upon closer inspection, Scott could see a long line of individuals holding hands in one drawing. He stood up and crossed the kitchen before crouching down in front of the refrigerator to look at the main drawing. It was a drawing of their entire family holding hands…their names were scrawled in crayon at the bottom under each caricature, but what really surprised Scott was the caricature of a woman with angel wings hovering above the entire family.

"You know Alan drew that when he was four? I had dropped him off at daycare and when I returned to pick him up the caretaker gave that to me. She said Alan drew it for show and tell and explained his mommy was an angel in heaven watching over him and his family." Ruth stood with her back to Scott. She knew that the older boy still felt guilty over turning away from his baby brother, but it had been out of everybody's control.

"Why didn't you ever show it to us?" Scott's voice was closed up in emotion. His baby brother was more observant than most six year olds, and he had been very perceptive to the reason for his being taken from his family even at the young tender age of four. Distance made the heart grow fonder after all.

"It was never a good time. Everybody was still trying to get over your mother's passing, and I didn't want to make you all feel bad. Alan originally put it in the recycle bin at daycare, but his caretaker took it back out and gave it to me. She said it was very well drawn, and deserved to be shown more than once. I sat your brother down when we got home and told him it was too nice to throw away and he was afraid you guys would get mad at him for drawing it." Ruth explained and was about to continue speaking when the soft pitter patters of feet resounded in the hallway.

"Grandma, I'm cold." Alan appeared in the kitchen wrapping a blanket around his body. Scott stayed by the refrigerator, and watched his little brother silently…waiting to see if he would notice him.

"Come here honey." Ruth opened her arms to the small boy, and he stumbled over to his grandmother. Scott and Ruth both noticed his staggering gait. Ruth hefted the small boy into her arms and cradled him to her chest. She set him up on the counter and grabbed the thermometer she had been carrying around for the last couple days from her pocket. She needed to check his fever. He was quite warm, but to say he was cold…that had to mean his fever was high.

"I'm itchy too. When is it gonna stop?" Ruth shushed the six year old long enough to take his temperature. It was a little over a hundred degrees.

"Not for a few more days' darling, how about a nice soak in the bath before breakfast?" Ruth placed her cool hand against the youngster's cheek. He had yet to notice his older brother's presence. Ruth had informed Jeff and the boys the night before that she had been unable to tell Alan of the surprise visit from his family.

"'Kay." The tyke readily agreed to the bath, it had been the only real form of relief he got from the constant itch. Scott was quick to offer his help to his grandmother.

"If you want, I can take him up for a bath." Scott wanted to be useful, and if helping to bathe his chickenpox riddled baby brother was kosher…he would do it no questions asked.

"Scotty?" Alan's blue eyes widened when he finally noticed his big brother in the kitchen.

"Hey little guy." Scott stepped up next to his grandmother and hefted Alan up into his arms.

"I'm not little! I've grown five inches since I last saw you." Alan glared indignantly at his older brother for insulting his recent growth spurt.

"Well, I guess the nickname of Sprout still works then huh, because soon you are going to be taller than Gordon." Scott missed his baby brother, and he had not noticed how much taller the tyke had gotten.

"I guess." Alan crossed his arms and pouted over being called little. "Grandma, when can I have my bath?" Alan squirmed in Scott's arms. The itch on his back and legs was bothersome.

"Right now dear." Ruth gently patted Alan's cheek before turning to address her eldest grandson. "Scott, when you go give him his bath put one cup of baking soda and about four drops of the lavender oil in his water. The two packages are beside the tub."

"Okay grandma." Hoisting Alan up higher in his arms, Scott spoke directly to his little brother. "You ready?" Scott resisted the urge to pat Alan on the back…it might only serve to flare the itch that they were trying hard to quell.

"Okay Scotty." Alan wrapped his little arms around his big brother's neck. Scott nuzzled his baby brother's head, and felt the connection he had lost become reestablished.

"Let's go sprout." Turning on his heel, Scott took the steps two at a time to the upstairs bathroom. After setting Alan down, Scott made him stay put while he went to fetch some clean pajamas for the child. It wouldn't do to put Alan back into his old pajamas after a relaxing bath. Scott quickly returned with some little spaceship pajamas and set them on the lid of the toilet before perching on the edge of the tub to run some lukewarm water.

"What are you doing here Scotty?" Alan placed his little hands on his older brother's knees and gazed up at him.

"Dad told us you and grandma couldn't come to visit because you were sick…so we decided to come to you. Pretty cool, huh?" Scott twisted at the waist to add the baking soda and lavender oil to the bath water before returning his focus to his little brother.

"But, I thought you guys didn't wanna come see me." Alan pouted at Scott when he reached up to scratch his shoulder and his elder brother brushed his hand away from the itch.

"What gave you that idea?" Scott checked the temperature of the bath water before helping to strip his little brother of his pajamas. Scott winced when he saw the number of pock marks on the boy. Scott picked Alan up under his arms and lowered him into the lukewarm water before he could feel the chill of being exposed in the cool room.

"I heard grandma and daddy talking once. Daddy said he didn't ever want to come back to Kansas 'cause that is where he met mommy." Alan sighed when the itch started to abate. The water always seemed to help get rid of the itch for a while.

"I don't think he meant that he didn't want to see you. It's just being back here in Kansas makes dad sad. It is where he met mom, but it's also where dad and mom started our family. You were born here, so was I and our brothers." Scott cupped his hands under the water and brought some water up to gently pour over Alan's head and shoulders, he couldn't use a cloth to wash his brother…it might make the itch worse. "Do you understand sprout?"

Alan looked at his big brother with innocent eyes. He understood what Scott said, but just barely. All he really knew was that he lived with Grandma and the two of them would make yearly flights to his dad's home to visit for a few days. Daddy never came to Kansas to see him. It made him sad.

"I guess." Alan spoke softly. He squirmed under the water…the water droplets cascading down his back were making him itchy again.

"Lay back Sprout, I won't let anything happen to you." Scott gently eased Alan onto his back so the water could wash up over his shoulders and calm the newly inflamed urge to scratch the itch.

"It itches Scotty." Alan pouted, tears of frustration welling up in his baby blue eyes.

"I know it does sprout, just relax." Scott gently swirled his hand in the water, bringing some water over Alan's head…dampening his hair. "Almost done, buddy."

The bathroom door opened slightly, and Scott could see Virgil peeking in. He motioned with his head to come in, before returning his attention back to the frustrated little boy in the bath tub. Virgil quietly closed the bathroom door and knelt on the floor by the tub, peeking in to see his little brother laying in the water, arms crossed over his chest, cheeks puffed up as he struggled not to cry and his blue eyes shining with unshed tears.

"What's the matter little guy?" Virgil just tripped the wire to set off the Alan bomb.

"I am not little! Why do you guys keep calling me that?! I am not little!" Alan sat up in the water and the tears began to flow at the unintended insult. Scott tried to shush the fussy boy, but all it did was make him angrier. "I am not little! I'm not!"

Alan brought his knees to his chest as he sat in the bath water, itch forgotten. He was nursing his wounded pride over being called little after having a growth spurt. Scott whispered something to Virgil and his eyes grew wide before looking back at his little brother.

"I'm sorry sprout. I didn't know you grew five inches. Can you forgive my mistake?" Virgil rose up and leaned over the lip of the tub, to gently caress Alan's fevered cheek. Scott gently ran his fingers through the damp hair, to calm the angered child.

"Just don't do it again, please?" Alan caved. He felt tired after his little blow up and he wanted to go back to sleep. He didn't feel hungry and hoped his grandma would let him take a nap instead of eat breakfast.

"Sure thing sprout. I'll even tell the guys not to call you little, what do you say? You've become a big boy since the last time we saw you." Virgil smiled at his baby brother. The little blonde looked at his brothers before scrubbing a fist into his eye. He was feeling really tired all of a sudden.

"Ok-ay." Alan interrupted his reply with a large yawn. Scott and Virgil smiled softly; the sick little boy had used up all his energy to take a bath and fuss.

"Hey Virge, can you grab a towel? I think Allie is ready for a nap." Virgil jumped to Scott's request, quickly recognizing Alan's waning energy.

"Here you go Scott." Virgil handed a large towel to Scott before retrieving the pajama bottoms for the little boy. Scott draped the towel over Alan's head and wrapped it around his tiny frame…lifting the boy from the bath water.

Scott sat Alan on his lap, and gently pat the towel to absorb the water on Alan's body. Alan leaned his head against Scott's chest, failing to keep awake any longer. Scott hurried to slip the pajama bottoms on the boy and Virgil held on to the boy as Scott put the long sleeved t-shirt over Alan's head.

"Hey, don't fall asleep yet kiddo." Scott threaded Alan's arms into the sleeves and pulled the shirt all the way down. Alan's head tilted forward. He was on the fast track to sleepy land. "Virge hold onto him for me. I need to drain his bath water."

"Okay Scott." Virgil stood behind Alan and wrapped his arms around the small boy's shoulders. Alan's head leaned back and rested against Virgil's waist. "Hurry Scott. I think he is about to fall asleep, and he won't be able to remain standing." Virgil gently patted Alan's cheek to awaken the boy a little.

"Done. Hand him here." Scott crouched down and wrapped Alan's arms around his neck before picking up the boy. "Let's go sprout."

Virgil and Scott exited the bathroom and slowly made their way downstairs. Stepping into the kitchen, the two older boys were greeted with their grandma feeding a little girl some French toast. The little girl noticed the two older boys and jumped down from her spot at the table before coming over.

"Hi! I'm Page! Who are you?" Scott smiled warmly at the little girl before replying.

"Hi Page, I'm Alan's big brother Scott." Page smiled at Scott before turning to Virgil and repeating her previous statement. Both older boys chuckled before Virgil replied.

"Hello Page, I'm Virgil. I am Alan's other big brother. It's nice to meet you." Virgil offered out his hand to the little girl. She grabbed the offered hand and began swinging their conjoined hands back and forth.

"Page, come back over and finish your breakfast dear." Page turned to Ruth when she spoke. "Scott, you can go put Alan on the couch with your dad. Perhaps the close contact will allow him to get comfortable." Ruth approached Scott and whispered gently to him, so as to not awaken the small boy.

"Okay Grandma, I'll be right back." Scott turned and retreated from the kitchen, before stepping into the living room. He grinned when he heard his dad snore lightly. The man was sound asleep.

Scott slowly pulled back the blanket that Grandma had draped over Jeff and with great care…laid Alan down on his dad's chest. The tiny blonde seemed to sense the change in contact and he nuzzled his dad's chest, slipping even deeper into the pull of sleep. Scott gently draped the blanket over both his dad and baby brother before going back to the kitchen.

"Okay, Alan and dad are both down for the count." Scott held his index finger up to signal quiet as he noticed his other brother's approach. All four of the Tracy sons gathered at the breakfast table to dig into a late breakfast. Gordon sat beside Page and devoured the food placed on his plate. The small girl giggled at seeing Gordon inhale his food and the young redhead stared at the unfamiliar child.

"Who is this?" Gordon looked around the table before setting his sights on his grandmother.

"This is Alan's friend Page. She is staying here until tomorrow afternoon." Ruth pat Page on the back garnering her attention. "Finish your breakfast sweetheart. Then I'll help you get dressed and if Alan feels like it you two can begin building the forts that you wanted to build yesterday."

"Really? Yay, Alan said he can't wait to show me how to build a fort." Page finished her breakfast quickly, before hopping down to the floor. She was a very happy child right now.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Breakfast came and went. Alan and Jeff remained asleep until almost noon. Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon took Page to go play outside in the leaves when she became progressively bored. When the group decided to return inside to the warmth, they were surprised to find Jeff and Alan were nowhere to be found. Scott went upstairs and found Jeff leaving the bathroom with a very pale Alan wearing a different pair of pajamas.

"Is Allie okay dad?" Scott approached his dad and baby brother with a worried look, but halted when Alan groaned pitifully.

"Ah, your brother's tummy was upset and he got sick a few minutes ago." Jeff cradled Alan in his arms and frowned when Alan groaned again, putting a hand over his tummy. "You okay now Allie?"

"Hm-mm. My tummy feels yucky." Alan swallowed deeply, and Jeff looked at Scott, before turning to go back to the bathroom.

"Okay, let's go in case you get sick again." Jeff made the right decision, because Alan gagged almost immediately. Jeff covered his six year old son's mouth with his free hand to prevent him from throwing up on the floor. "Scott, please go see if grandma has anything to soothe his tummy."

"I'm on it dad. Be back in a flash." Scott didn't know if his dad heard him after he closed the bathroom door, but nonetheless Scott jogged down the stairs to the kitchen. "Grandma, would you by any chance have some ginger ale for Allie, he's with dad in the bathroom."

"Yeah, I picked some up Monday. Is your brother all right?" Ruth pulled down a kiddie glass from the cupboard before pouring a small amount of room temperature ginger ale in it for Alan.

"He's throwing up right now, but dads with him." Scott accepted the glass from his grandmother before turning on his heel and going back upstairs. He passed by his three immediate younger brothers and Page as he was heading upstairs. Before reaching the landing Scott called. "Thanks grandma!"

Scott slowed his jog to a fast walk and when he approached the bathroom door he knocked before opening the door, poking his head inside. He saw his dad wiping Alan's face with a damp cloth, murmuring to the little boy. Scott felt terrible for his brother when he leaned over the bowl again and began to cry.

"I don't feel good daddy." Alan moaned pitifully, not getting sick but being ready.

"I know you don't buddy, but it's okay." Jeff glanced over his shoulder when he heard Scott close the bathroom door, the younger brunette leaning against the sink, beside the toilet where Alan stood. When Alan retched, Jeff knelt down behind Alan murmuring words of comfort and rubbing his back. "It's okay. Throw up if you need to."

"You're okay Allie, dad and I are here." Scott kept his distance so as to not crowd his sick baby brother, but began murmuring much like his dad was. Scott winced when Alan finally threw up, but proceeded in murmuring to his little brother soothingly.

Jeff wiped the damp cloth around Alan's mouth when he finished, and kissed the flustered little boy on the temple. Jeff flushed the toilet and picked Alan up again, cradling him against his shoulder. The miserable little boy just laid his head on Jeff's shoulder and sniffled. Scott approached his dad and Alan and held the glass to give Alan a small sip. Alan grimaced at the taste of the ginger ale, but swallowed the tiny mouthful regardless.

"Feel better Allie?" Scott whispered to Alan when he laid his head back onto Jeff's shoulder again. He grinned when Alan nodded his head.

"Why did I get sick daddy?" Alan asked softly, weakly hugging his dad's neck.

"Your tummy was just throwing a tantrum; it's on time out right now." Jeff didn't want to say the chickenpox caused the upset tummy, so he said it in a way that a child might understand.

"Do you feel up to watching a movie or do you want to take a nap?" Scott asked softly.

"Movie please." Alan used his manners, and smiled weakly at his dad and older brother.

"Dad, I can take Allie. Why don't you go get a cup of coffee? Grandma was making a pot when I went to get Alan the ginger ale." Scott held his arms out ready to receive Alan from his dad.

"If you're sure Scotty. But if Allie feels sick, please come get me." Jeff passed Alan off to Scott and before leaving the bathroom, retrieved the cup of ginger ale and turned out the light.

"I will dad." Scott cradled Alan close to his chest, and gently squeezed the huggable six year old. "Which movie do you want to watch Allie?"

"Cars." Alan muttered softly, before burying his head in Scott's shoulder.

"I have never heard of that movie." Jeff wracked his brain for a movie titled "Cars".

"It's a Disney Pixar movie, about a racecar. It's a cute little movie." Scott gently patted his baby brother on the back, mindful of not reigniting the itch. "Why do you like the movie Allie?" Scott knew why, but he loved to hear his baby brother say why he liked the movie.

"The car is red." Scott cast an amused look at his father before smiling widely. Jeff himself although sad for his youngest not feeling well found himself smiling at his baby's honest and innocent answer.

"Well, go enjoy the movie. Remember Scott, come get me if your brother begins to feel sick again." With that Jeff and Scott parted ways, Jeff sans a child in his arms, Scott with a full load in his arms.

The tiny blonde in Scott's arms seemed to drift in and out of sleep and wakefulness, but Scott put on the movie regardless. It was something that kept Page occupied and out of Alan's face the times that he was asleep. When Alan was awake he would squirm…trying not to scratch at the itch and he'd giggle at the humorous scenes of Cars. John, Virgil and Gordon joined Scott, Alan and Page in the living room upon seeing that Scott was babysitting the two tykes.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Scott held a finger up to his mouth before pointing at Alan who was asleep in his arms when his dad and grandmother came into the living room an hour later. Ruth was carrying a tray that had a grilled cheese sandwich for Scott and chicken noodle soup for Alan. Gently shaking Alan, Scott began murmuring to the little boy who was so out of it, a bomb could go off and he wouldn't hear it.

"Hey sprout, do you think you can eat some soup?" Scott played with the blonde curls, as he prompted his baby brother to open his eyes.

"Mmm." Alan refused to open his eyes, choosing instead to bury his face into Scott's side.

"That tickles sprout. Now come on, grandma and dad brought you some soup." Scott moved Alan from his side, sitting the tiny blonde up straight. His blonde curls were stuck to his forehead and neck in places from perspiration.

"I'm cold Scotty." Alan shivered slightly after he made his statement, which prompted Scott to press the back of his hand to Alan's forehead.

"It seems like you've still got a bit of a fever Allie." Scott lowered his hand, in favor of accepting the tray of food from his grandmother. "Can you try to eat some soup?"

"My tummy still feels yucky though." Alan gently rubbed his tummy as he said this. "Do I have to?"

"Just a couple bites Sprout. If it makes your tummy still feel yucky, you don't have to eat any more. Right Grandma?" Scott placed his hand over Alan's on his tummy.

"That's right sweetheart, but the soup might make your tummy feel less yucky. Can you give it a try?" Ruth perched on the edge of the couch, aware of the audience lying on the floor. Jeff walked around behind the couch, gently placing a hand on top of Alan's golden locks.

"Grandma and Scotty are right Allie, soup might make you feel better." Alan craned his neck to look up at his dad, before looking at Scott and his grandma Ruth. He was feeling kinda hungry, but his tummy was still feeling yucky.

"Okay." Alan resigned himself to eating his soup, if only a little bit.

Grandma placed a trashcan beside Scott's feet in the event that Alan got sick before handing Scott a spoon to feed Alan the soup. Carefully Scott filled the spoon and held it up to Alan's mouth. The little boy took a tentative sip of the warm liquid. Scott kept in mind that Alan wouldn't be able to stomach much of the soup, but he continued to feed the boy as long as he accepted the soup.

"Is that good Allie?" Scott gave Alan a small spoonful of noodles with small bits of diced up chicken. Alan nodded slowly. When Scott raised another spoonful of soup to Alan's mouth he found himself frowning when Alan pulled his head away.

"No more…my tummy feels yucky." Alan turned his head away when Scott tried following his mouth with the soup filled spoon.

"That's good Scotty." Grandma reached over Scott's shoulder. A pitiful groan redirected everybody's gaze to the tiny blonde. "Are you okay sweetheart?"

Alan wrapped his arms around his tummy, frowning. "I don't feel so good."

"Do you think you're gonna be sick Sprout?" Scott gently pat Alan's back, trying to be of some comfort to Alan in his time of need.

Scott reached down with his free hand and pulled the trashcan by his feet up onto the couch. Alan whimpered again, rubbing his tummy slowly. He really didn't feel good.

"S-Scotty…I…don't…" Scott quickly maneuvered Alan's head over the trashcan, continuing to rub his baby brother's back and pat it gently.

"You're alright Sprout." Scott barely noticed his dad crouching beside them as Grandma joined Scott's efforts to help Alan through his upset tummy. "Better out than in."

John had the foresight to usher Page and his two younger brothers from the room when Alan began to cry. Page however refused to leave, when John attempted to pick the girl up, she evaded him and ran to Alan instead.

"Allie, what's the matter?" Page quickly jumped up onto the couch and hugged Alan even as Scott used the material of Alan's sleep shirt to wipe around the edge of his mouth. Despite Alan having just thrown up everything he'd just eaten, he'd still managed to hug his young friend…going so far as to cry in her arms.

"I don't feel good Page…" Alan whimpered as Page squeezed him tight.

"Hugs make it all better, that's what my mommy says when I don't feel good." Page hugged Alan again, smiling regardless of her friend's discomfort with his upset tummy and chickenpox. "You feel better yet?"

Alan nodded his head against Page's shoulder before falling asleep against Scott's chest. The eldest brother cradled Alan close as he noticed Page too had crawled into his lap and was snuggling close to Alan. Looking up to meet his father and Grandmother's eyes, Scott couldn't help but to smile himself at the heartlessness of his baby brother's little girl friend.


	3. Regretful Memories

When Alan woke up a little later after his nap, though still not feeling one-hundred percent…he actually felt hungry for some crackers and ginger ale. He'd managed to keep it down and after finishing his light meal, he'd gone into the living room with Page and he helped her to build a large fort out of pillows from his bedroom and his grandma's bedroom. His grandma provided the sheet while Scott helped to drape the giant clothe over a couple chairs.

The eldest brother helped to keep an eye on his baby brother, keeping him from scratching at the pock marks while John and Virgil helped their grandma bake cookies in the kitchen. Jeff and Gordon had been sent to the store by Ruth to gather a couple of last minute items for Thanksgiving dinner and they'd been gone into town for about thirty minutes.

Ruth kept her ears open to listen for Alan as she had done for the past couple of years since he'd been in her care. After she had put the cookies in the oven to bake, she'd dismissed the two younger boys to go play with Scott, Alan and Page in the living room while she remained to finish hemming Alan's pilgrim costume.

Before Ruth got to work on the pilgrim costume alterations, she peeked into the living room to see Scott making shadow puppets against the wall just inside the fort. He had insisted on closing the drapes in the living room to darken the room in order to create a synthetic camping trip for the two youngsters. Apparently a camping trip in the living room had been one thing Scott had promised he'd do with Alan during their next visit to the island.

Chuckling to herself, Ruth shook her head and returned to the kitchen in order to begin the mending process. She didn't have to make the alterations too extravagant, she just had to bring the hem of the pant legs up a little so Alan would trip and hurt himself. He may have grown five inches in the last year, but in truth…that had been in his torso, his legs were still quite short. Getting lost in her alterations, Ruth continued to hand sew the fabric.

"Grandma?" Ruth lifted her gaze to see Alan. The small boy was pouting and trying to scratch at his back. Looking over to the boy's left; she noticed Page seemed to be itching also. The girl was scratching at her shoulder. "Grandma, I'm hot and itchy."

Ruth put down her sewing to pick up Alan and sit him in her lap. She'd placed the back of her hand against Alan's forehead, the boy's fever seemed to not want to break…making him still quite contagious. Looking over to Page, the young girl didn't seem to notice the unforgiving itch, but she was scratching at the same spot that she had been for the past minute.

"Page honey, come here." Ruth juggled Alan that sat in her lap as she also picked up Page and sat her on the opposite knee. Pulling the collar of Page's t-shirt to the side, Ruth found what she was looking for. Page had contracted the chickenpox from Alan. "Scott dear, could you come here?"

Scott came at a jog from the living room to see his grandma with her arms full of two little kids, both actively scratching. "Yeah Grandma?"

"Can I trouble you to give your brother another bath? He's hot and itchy and I need to take Page up for a bath…it would seem that she has finally gotten the chickenpox from Alan like her parents wanted." Ruth reached around and stilled both Alan and Page's hands from their scratching.

"Sure…" Scott stepped forward and extracted Alan from his grandmother's lap. "Come on Sprout…how about another nice soak in the tub?"

Alan nodded eagerly as he tried to scratch at his knee, but Scott wrapped his arms firmly around Alan, making it impossible for the boy to scratch. The little blonde pouted miserably, but Scott soothed the waters with a gentle round of Eskimo kisses. Scott ventured upstairs with Alan and into the bathroom. The eskimo kisses were successful in turning Alan's frown upside down and before the tiny blonde knew it; he was being stripped of his pajamas and being dipped into the relaxing lukewarm water.

"Are they still really itchy kiddo?" Scott inspected Alan's chest and back to find the skin was not just lightly mottled with pock marks, but Alan was covered in the little itchy blisters. Not even Scott had them that bad when he'd been Alan's age, but obviously the baby Tracy had followed the doctor's unfortunate prediction that his premature birth would likely give him a weaker immune system than most.

"Yeah…but they hurt." Alan hunkered under the warm water and released a sigh as he felt the itch calm where the water touched.

"Yeah…I'm sorry sprout. It's never fun being sick." Scott cupped his hands under the water and lifted the water to pour over the tops of Alan's shoulders.

"You're here…so it ok." Alan grinned despite how poorly he felt and giggled when Scott ruffled his damp locks.

"So what do you say to taking another nap after your bath huh Sprout? You seem to be getting a little sleepy." Scott tried to hurry the bath along since his baby brother was becoming groggy.

"Uh huh…" Alan released a large yawn before he allowed Scott to lift him from the water all swaddled and warm in a towel.

Scott focused on drying his baby brother before dressing him again. Alan was still feverish, but he seemed a bit cooler than he had been earlier.

"Don't be going to sleep on me Sprout…save that for when we get you ready for your nap." Scott made Alan hold onto him as he pulled Alan's sleep clothes onto his tiny frame. "You know…I'm feeling a little tired myself, how about we go to my room and you and I can lie down and take a short nap…okay Sprout?"

"Mm-hmm." Alan groggily nodded his head before holding his arms up in a silent plea for his big brother to pick him up and carry him. He felt too tired to walk on his own two feet to Scott's bedroom.

"All right…up you get Sprout. Be sure to hold on tight…okay?" Scott lifted Alan up and looked at his sleepy baby brother as he laid his fevered head upon his shoulders.

"Mm-hmm." Alan got comfortable as was possible in his big brother's arms and watched as the bathroom grew smaller and the hall trailed past him until he was being tucked into Scott's bed with his big brother right beside him.

"Alright…here we go Sprout." Scott snuggled down into the blankets as he pulled them up and over Alan's shoulders to keep him warm. "Wake me up if you feel sick again. The trashcan is beside your side of the bed in case you can't make it…okay Sprout?"

Alan nodded groggily once more before snuggling into Scott's side. He was asleep almost instantly. Scott hadn't lied, he was tired…but he also just wanted to keep Alan all to himself. This was the first time that he'd been back to Kansas since his mother died…it tore his heart out that Alan was no longer living with their family…it's not like it was Alan's fault their mother died in the avalanche.

Scott reasoned with himself as to why Alan was no longer living with his family. It'd been because initially he, his father and brothers had all been extremely depressed when Lucy had died. She'd died protecting Alan. Scott knew that again…he and his family had been depressed – thus making it already a difficult environment for a toddler to live in. His grandmother, God bless her – had moved in with them to help keep the family going and to care for the toddler.

Slowly the feelings changed from depression to hatred and disgust. Scott felt terrible for having held such contempt for his baby brother – especially when it wasn't his fault the avalanche occurred in the first place. However, soon Scott and each member of the family aside from Grandma had been blaming Alan and none of them really wanted to see the two and a half year old.

It was then that Grandma decided the environment was no longer safe for Alan to grow in. Jeff and each of his sons refused to have anything to do with the toddler – even going so far to ignore his cries when he needed his diaper changed or when he was hungry. Grandma couldn't stand seeing all the blame being placed on the baby Tracy when he wasn't at fault, thus making one of the hardest decisions of her life to return to Kansas with Alan in tow one week before his third birthday.

As Scott felt his eyes close…he was thrown back into a memory that he wished he could forget.

'_Scott walked past the nursery where Alan was supposed to be taking a nap, however it was obvious that the baby was having none of that. The door was cracked open and Scott could see his grandmother in the room – trying to get the toddler to quit crying as he got his diaper changed. Alan always hated having his diaper changed, but this recent fit of crying was because he'd been left with a soiled diaper for too long and he'd grown uncomfortable._

"_It's okay Allie bear – stop crying for nana…we don't want to upset the family do we?" The elder woman managed to get the crying fit to ease to that of hiccoughs and whimpers since she'd gotten Alan out of the soiled diaper and into a fresh one. "That's better isn't it? Now how about you have a bite of lunch sweetie?"_

_Scott continued to watch as his grandmother doted on the toddler. Feelings of despair and anger swept over him as Alan got all the attention. If the tot cried Grandma came running, if he so much as sneezed Grandma was right there with him. It made Scott's blood boil to see that while he, his father and brothers were left to agonize over the death of his mother, Alan had become blissfully unaware as he took all of Grandma's available time for himself._

'_I hate him…I hate him.' The words ran through Scott's mind like a broken record – repeating over and over and deep inside Scott could feel the hatred for his baby brother growing. As far as Scott was concerned – it'd been his baby brother's fault that their mother died._

_The door opened and startled; Scott lifted his gaze to look into his grandmother's hazel eyes. His grandmother's mouth was drawn and she did not look pleased that Alan had been left for what she guessed to be about two hours in a soiled diaper. Her nostrils flared and she wordlessly pushed past Scott, carrying her toddler grandson down the stairs for a bite of lunch – he was also well overdue for that seeing as his nap was supposed to have ended an hour and a half ago. Scott's dark eyebrows narrowed and Scott turned on his heel and stalked away from the direction his grandmother had gone._

_Later that evening grandma announced that she'd called a friend of hers that was watching the Kansas homestead for her and they agreed to pick grandma up from the airport – she would be flying commercial from the La-Guardia airport. However, due to her feeling the environment was not currently suitable for a toddler to grow up in, she'd be taking Alan with her._

_Jeff and his sons didn't react – except for Scott. The eldest son grit his teeth together and sent a death glare towards the toddler. The tiny blonde baby sat blissfully unaware of the turmoil going on within their family and he simply smiled at Scott – his couple of baby teeth that had since grown in - gleaming in the light of the dining room. Scott felt the anger bubbling up deep in his chest and in a flurry of anger Scott stormed from the room._

_The following day Grandma had her bags packed along with Alan's diaper bag. She packed just the essentials, leaving everything else behind. Alan carried his hand me down stuffed elephant – Ellie along with him. Jeff drove Grandma and Alan out to the La-Guardia airport with his four older sons along with him and they waved solemnly at Grandma as she took the youngest child with her. Alan smiled and waved bye-bye to his daddy and brothers, but frowned in confusion when the five of them simply turned away, not bothering to watch them go. Ruth fought the tears as she watched her son and four grandsons forsake the youngest child in their grief and briefly wondered if this was the right decision.'_

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Ruth sat down in the kitchen…she had delegated John and Virgil to help her keep an eye on Page in order to keep her from scratching the chickenpox which cropped up on her shoulder. Sitting on the couch, Ruth continued making the last of her alterations to Alan's pilgrim costume. She'd need him to try it on next time he was awake and feeling cooperative. The chickenpox made the poor boy hot and itchy and here recently that made for a very grumpy Alan.

Ruth just came from checking on Alan and Scott…the elder was supposed to have finished Alan's soak in the tub by now and she'd been wondering where the two boys were at. Imagine her surprise to see Scott sound asleep in his bed upstairs with his baby brother cuddled up close to him – also fast asleep. She smiled regretfully as the thought occurred to her that it had taken Alan coming down sick with the chickenpox to convince the family to return to Kansas for the holidays. Usually it'd been her and Alan traveling to either the Manhattan penthouse or until recently the island home to see the family since they'd recently moved to the island. Ruth thought back to how everything had been after she'd taken Alan from his father and brothers in a desperate attempt to salvage whatever relationship the family had with the toddler.

_ 'Ruth set her bags down on the floor just inside the front door of the Kansas homestead. She'd been away for the past two almost three months. Her neighbor had been keeping an eye on the homestead for her and they'd willfully returned her keys back to her when she said she'd be returning immediately. Smiling sadly, Ruth rubbed the sleeping toddler's back as he snuggled into her arms._

_ Venturing through the house Ruth struggled to not cry as she glimpsed up at a picture of a happy family – a complete family, one which would never be complete again and dismally Ruth thought would probably never be happy again either. Ruth slowly walked into the room that she'd asked her neighbor to set up for her – a toddler bed had been installed and set up in the corner and there was a dresser that she'd had in storage – thankfully her neighbor's kids helped to set up the nursery to create what Ruth assumed would become a permanent bedroom for her youngest grandson._

_ The first couple weeks had been the hardest for Ruth and Alan. The tiny tot had ventured from room to room in search of his daddy, brothers and mother and often he'd cried as he did so. Ruth never heard a word one from Jeff as she hoped she had and months passed before she heard a call from Jeff. Alan became three years old within the first week of living with his grandmother and neither Jeff nor his sons called to wish the tot a happy birthday._

_ Ruth had set up a birthday party for Alan…with the celebrators being just her and a couple of her friends that had children and grandchildren around Alan's age…Alan did get a couple presents that year for his third birthday – but it hadn't been the same. The third birthday just hadn't felt quite as special without the family to celebrate. _

_ Within a couple weeks of becoming three years old Ruth began the potty training process with Alan and he'd done well with it initially. Not long after completing the potty training, Ruth began working with Alan to reach the typical milestones expected of a three year old. Still Ruth hardly heard from Jeff. When he did call, Ruth tried to tell her son that Alan was potty trained and he'd brushed off any talk of Alan and quickly changed topic. It broke Ruth's heart that Jeff could still be blaming Alan for something that was not his fault._

_ The next time that Ruth heard from Jeff she didn't bother bringing Alan up. She didn't bother telling his father that Alan had fallen that day playing in the yard and needed stitches to close the gash in his knee from falling on a sharp rock, she didn't tell Jeff that Alan was staying the night with a friend of hers who had twin grandsons his age and it was their birthday/slumber party. She didn't bother to tell him the next time after that that Alan had come down with the flu or that she'd enrolled him in Sunday school. Sadly Ruth had succeeded in practically erasing any existence of Alan from all conversations she had with her son._

_ Almost a year to the day of Ruth taking Alan away from his family a call from Jeff came out of the blue and the first words out of Jeff's mouth were a question about Alan's well-being. Jeff had been surrounded by each of his sons and they'd all gazed sadly at their grandmother as she answered their questions in one worded answers. She wasn't going to give them information right now – not after they'd wanted nothing to do with the toddler for the past year. After that day, calls came in frequently – however subsequently Ruth now refused to dole out information to the family when they'd inquired about the small boy._

_ It'd taken a screaming match between Ruth and Jeff for the words to be said…why Ruth was refusing to provide information on Alan and how Jeff could begin to care after not wanting anything to do with the toddler for the past year and a half. Thankfully none of the boys had heard the words said between Ruth and Jeff – Alan was at daycare and the four older boys were away at school themselves. Things were said and feelings came out into the open…tears were shed and demands were given. Ruth had hung up the call in tears as she demanded that she get total custody of Alan since she'd been the sole provider for the boy since he'd been two and a half. Jeff had refused to give total custody of his son over to Ruth – but they'd agreed that Alan would remain with her until they felt Alan was ready to be reintroduced to the family again._

_ That summer; after months of trying…Jeff finally succeeded in getting his mother to agree to bring Alan with her to come visit them. Ruth was insistent that Alan wasn't ready, but Jeff and his four older boys had asked nicely to see Alan again and after spending hours on the phone hashing it out with Jeff – she'd finally agreed to bring Alan out for a few days and see how Alan took to the family._

_ The result was immediate. It was obvious that Alan had no memory of his father and brothers and he'd become upset when anyone besides his grandma tried to hold him or cuddle with him. One time he'd had to go potty just before dinner and Jeff took the child to the bathroom and Alan refused to go while his dad was in the room. He wouldn't do anything and finally Jeff took Alan to the dining room. Alan hardly ate dinner because yes he had to go potty, but…no he wasn't going to go potty while a total stranger was in the room._

_ Halfway through dinner, Ruth noticed Alan squirming in his seat, his hands pressed against his bladder and Ruth realized why he was hardly eating dinner. She'd picked up the small boy and carried him to the bathroom when he could hardly walk from trying not to wet himself. Jeff became irritated that Alan was being stubborn but he'd settled when Ruth explained that Alan was in fact pee-shy…it wasn't that he wouldn't go – it was that he couldn't go when he was with someone he didn't feel comfortable with._

_ Jeff and the boys had felt hurt that Alan didn't trust them, but Ruth pointed out that Alan hadn't seen them in well over a year so of course he'd forgotten them. He wouldn't even allow his dad and brothers to give him a hug before he and grandma flew back to Kansas from Manhattan. The subsequent phone call had sort of been the same – except everything had gradually gotten better. Jeff began calling when Alan was home so that he could interact with his son and try to familiarize himself with his son. _

_ Gradually Alan got better about talking to his father and began looking forward to the nightly phone calls. When Alan's brothers were home for the occasional weekends, they'd also talk to their baby brother and get used to interacting with him once again. It'd been a bittersweet phone call the one day that Alan talked animatedly about learning how to tie his shoes and ride a bike – Rodney and Sonja…Ruth's neighbor's teenage son and daughter had taken to babysitting Alan and trying to teach the boy how to ride a bike for the first time or tie the laces on his shoes.'_

Shaking herself from the memory, Ruth smiled a little more at ease. Things had gotten much better with the family dynamics and Jeff had gotten enough of not seeing his baby boy and he'd asked Ruth and Alan to return to live with the family once more.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

John and Virgil sat on the couch with Page sitting directly between them. Both boys were holding a hand on Pages arms to keep her from scratching. The little girl wasn't fussy yet, but she was close. She kept squirming and whining when she'd reach up to scratch only to have the two older boys restraining her arms.

Page noticed something was missing and she looked around. "Where's Alan?"

John looked down at his charge and grinned at the concern written practically in bold print on their girl's forehead…she was worried for her friend and she wanted to see him and be sure he was okay. John humored her and answered her question. "He's upstairs taking a nap…not feeling good this morning made him really sleepy."

"Can't I go visit him?" Page turned on the puppy pout and John found himself trying to resist the pull of agreeing with the little girl. Truthfully he wanted to go see his baby brother as well, but he didn't want to awaken Alan if he was sleeping peacefully. John personally had no way of knowing if Alan had thrown up anymore since Scott took him up for another bath.

"Not right now…why don't you take a nap and then when Alan's awake next you two can play together." John suggested lightly.

"Okay…" Page pouted before leaning into John and going off to sleep instantly.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

The next time Alan woke up, he felt a little bit better; still very itchy, but not nearly as uncomfortable as he had been earlier that morning. A soft breeze tickled the nape of his neck and Alan looked up to see his big brother Scott was sound asleep. Smiling to himself, despite the non-stop itch Alan snuggled into Scott's side and went back to sleep.

Scott woke briefly at the wiggled movement from Alan and he wrapped his arms around his baby brother and settled back to sleep. Never mind the fact that Alan was hot, itchy and sick…he was happy that Alan and his grandma were back in their life.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Later that evening Scott hauled a groggy Alan out of bed and down the stairs to the living room. Upon coming down the stairs the wonderful smell of his grandma's pot roast wafted up his nose. Alan was hanging onto Scott's neck, his head resting on Scott's shoulder.

"Hey big guy. How're you feeling?" Jeff walked over to remove Alan from Scott's hold, the patriarch himself snuggling with his son.

"I'm sleepy." Alan yawned before laying his head on his dad's shoulder.

"I'm sure." Jeff reached up and gently brushed some of Alan's bangs out of his eyes. "You're tummy still feeling yucky?"

Jeff smiled when Alan shook his head.

"You want to try to eat some soup?" Jeff asked lightly. The father smiled warmly again when Alan nodded with another yawn. "That's my boy."

Jeff walked into the kitchen and sat Alan in his lap, before spoon feeding some soup to Alan. The little boy tried to snuggle into his father's side, but Page who had finished her dinner came over and grabbed Alan's hand. By this time, Page was now covered in a bunch of red dots.

"Allie, can we go watch Oliver and Company?" Page had socks taped on her hands, like Alan had mittens on his hands.

"Yeah…" Alan looked up at his dad with an expectant look before smiling when his dad nodded his consent and allowed his little boy to slide out of his lap. Alan took Page's hand and together the two little ones left the room to go watch a movie.

Jeff looked around the table at his sons and mother before smiling warmly. Despite the hectic day they'd had, Alan seemed to be feeling a tad bit better, but he was still running a slight fever.

"Hey dad…um…" Scott began before being cut off by John.

"Do you want me and the guys to sleep in the living room with Alan and Page tonight to make sure neither of them scratches the pock marks?" John chewed lightly on the prongs of his fork.

"No, I'm pretty sure the two of them are going to sleep soundly through the night." Jeff looked out towards the living room and spotted both Alan and Page sitting incredibly too close to the television set watching as the little orange tabby cat kitten scampered after a dog on the street.

"Okay, if you're sure dad." John continued eating his dinner. "This pot roast is really good Grandma."

"Thank you. Do you want another helping dear?" Grandma lifted the tongs to lift another piece of pot roast onto John's plate if he agreed.

"No thanks grandma…I'm saving room for dessert." John pushed his plate away before standing up to clear his spot. "I think I'm going to go see if I can save the kid's eyesight before they need glasses."

With that said, John sauntered out of the kitchen and dining room to go move Alan and Page back a ways from the television. The television was plenty loud, they didn't need to gaze wide eyed at the screen.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

John sat on the floor, clutching a squirming Alan and Page to his lap. Both kids were squirming for two reasons. One reason, they wanted to sit closer to the television screen and the second and more obvious reason, both kids were desperately itchy.

"No Page, no touchy." John reached around and gripped Page's fingers as she tried to gain purchase on the tape which fastened the socks around her wrists.

"But Jo-hn…I'm itchy." Page whined, making John's name which is one syllable a plural.

"I know you're itchy, but you'll only make owies if you scratch." John forced Page's attention back to the singing group of dogs prancing through the streets of New York in the film they were watching. "Who's your favorite character so far?"

Alan replied after giving some thought. "Ollie, the kitty."

"Why is Oliver your favorite character?" John noticed Scott entering the room, whilst extracting the blonde from John's grasp, leaving the younger boy to hold a still squirming Page in his lap.

"No one wanted him, then he makes a friend." Alan smiled up at Scott, before settling back into his brother's grasp to continue watching the film.

Scott remained quiet as he joined John, Page and Alan in watching the film. He remembered when the movie came out, it had been just before their mother died…she'd actually purchased the film to keep Alan distracted and out of his brother's hair as a toddler.

When the movie ended, both John and Scott looked down at the two little kids who fell asleep in their arms. Page had settled down some and snuggled into John's hold, while Alan sprawled out in Scott's lap…his sleep shirt having snuck up on his torso – revealing the tiny little belly button which was just asking to be tickled. However Scott refrained.

Alan was finally getting the sleep he so desperately needed in order to get over the illness. The same went for Page. It wouldn't be fair to make Alan squeal in laughter at being tickled and to awaken both children when they were both sound asleep.

"Hey Scott…do you want me to fix Allie and Page's pallet on the floor?" Virgil snuck into the room and whispered when he noticed his baby brother and his baby brother's friend were both fast asleep.

"Yeah, please." Scott nodded his agreement and moved off the couch when Virgil prepared the bedding for the two children. "There…as snug as a bug in a rug."

Gordon who'd entered the room around the time that statement was said had to stifle a laugh. His little brother was just called a bug and he found that funny. Scott shushed the younger boy and together with John ushered his two younger brothers from the room so he could dim the lights and allow the two kiddos to sleep soundly.


	4. Surprise Party

Jeff woke up to a cold tiny hand poking his face and he wrenched his eyes open to see a tearful Alan. Jeff turned on his light and sat up in bed, before picking up his son.

"What's the matter big guy?" Jeff sat Alan on his lap and looked at his baby boy's red tinged blue eyes.

"I hurt." Alan continued trying to scratch at his pock marks.

"You hurt? Where do you hurt?" Jeff stilled Alan's hands from trying to scratch and noticed where Alan must have struggled enough in his sleep to remove one of his mittens. On Alan's forearm was an angry red pock mark which looked like it'd been opened, no doubt from scratching. "What did nana and I tell you about scratching?"

"But…I woke up and it was hurting…I not touch." Alan's face crumpled as he told his dad why he was awake.

"Was your arm like this when you woke up?" Jeff motioned to the angry red pock mark which had been opened and Alan nodded.

"It hurts." Tears filled Alan's eyes. "Can you make it better daddy?"

"Let's go run you a bath kiddo, maybe that'll make you feel better." Jeff threw back the blankets and picked up Alan and carried him to the bathroom. "Where are your mittens?"

"I don't know. They wasn't on when I waked up." Alan squiggled and squirmed as the blasted urge to itch flared.

"Okay. Let's get you bathed and that itch soothed." Jeff ran the water and followed the instructions his mother had left written down beside the packages of baking soda and lavender oil.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Ruth woke up to the smell of pancakes and she rubbed her eyes slowly before it dawned on her that she wasn't in the kitchen cooking anything. Removing her duvet, Ruth climbed from her bed and grabbed her robe before venturing down the stairs. Rounding the corner, Ruth found Scott and John standing side by side next to the stove – the smell of fresh pancakes wafting through the house.

"What are you boys doing?" Ruth walked in with a smile and grinned softly as Scott and John turned with sheepish grins on their faces.

"Making breakfast. Page woke Scotty up and told him Alan and her were hungry, so we figured some chocolate chip pancakes were in order." John grinned before turning back to the stove to flip one of the pancakes.

"You and your chocolate addiction John – I swear you are your father made over." Ruth left the kitchen to enter the living room and found Virgil and Gordon sitting on the couch, both older boys holding Alan and Page's arms tight against their sides. It looked like a Saturday morning cartoon marathon and it looked like it was showing re-runs of Clifford the Big Red Dog. "Hello dears, how'd you all sleep?"

Alan saw his grandma and smiled big at her. Slipping free from Gordon's grasp Alan teetered towards his grandma and held his arms up to be picked up. When she picked him up he snuggled into her warm embrace. He was still itchy, but he felt much better. Page was right, hugs did make it better.

"Allie, were you scratching?" Ruth stared aghast at the band aid fastened to Alan's arm. "What have I told you? It'll make owies."

"He came to me this morning about four; he'd apparently been scratching in his sleep. His owie was hurting him and he needed daddy to kiss it and make it better." Jeff strolled into the kitchen before tousling Alan's hair – eliciting a smile and a giggle from the boy. "Sleep better buddy?"

"Thanks daddy." Alan said as he nestled his head into Ruth's shoulder.

"No problem bud." Jeff tousled Alan's hair again before going to sit at the table. Glancing at the boys near the stove, Jeff couldn't help but to remark. "No kitchen disasters this holiday…okay boys?"

"Yes dad." Scott and John said as they worked together to flip the pancakes. When breakfast was done, the two boys fixed Alan and Page a plate first since they were for all intents and purposes the invalids.

"So dad, what are we going to do today?" Scott sat down after serving everybody their breakfast and he reached across to cut Alan's pancake for him. "There you go Allie."

"Thanks Scotty." Alan picked up the kiddie fork and stabbed at a piece of pancake before lifting it to his mouth. Around a mouth full of food, he spoke up. "Your foo wis weally goo."

"Don't talk with your mouth full Alan, you know better than that." Ruth admonished.

"Soweh nana." Alan swallowed his pancake shortly after apologizing to his grandma.

"Alan…" Ruth warned again as Alan took a sip from his glass of milk.

Alan wisely stopped talking while eating his breakfast and the table was filled with the sounds of chewing, utensils clanking. When Alan pushed his plate away, it was to the disappointment of the family. Despite them having only given Alan one pancake, he'd been unable to eat all of it.

"Scott, when you're done with breakfast; can you give Alan another bath? I need to take him into town for a few hours." Ruth stood to clear her plate and Alan's. "I need to give Page a bath downstairs before her dad comes to get her later this afternoon."

"Sure grandma." Scott hurriedly cleared his plate of any remaining morsel of pancake before he too stood to clear his place at the table. "Come on sprout. When you're done in the bath, I call dibs on the shower next."

Alan held up his arms to be picked up and he clung to his brother like a baby koala. Laying his head in Scott's shoulder, Alan snuggled down. Heaving a sigh, Alan allowed Scott's embrace to comfort him of the lingering itch that just wouldn't go away.

"Be sure to put him in regular clothes Scott, not pajamas! I have to take him into town later." Grandma called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay grandma!" Scott called as he went into Alan's bedroom to retrieve some clothes for him. Digging through Alan's underwear/sock drawer, Scott selected a pair of Buzz Light-year underwear and socks for the kid. Moving over to Alan's small closet, Scott selected a long-sleeved blue shirt with Buzz Light-Year and Woody the cowboy on it. '_Oh great, Alan's into the theme stage.'_

"Scotty, can you take a bath with me?" Alan asked innocently.

"No, why would you ask that?" Scott quirked an eyebrow at his brother's line of thought.

"Because I don't get to have baths with any of you anymore." Alan pouted at Scott.

"Sprout, we stopped doing those double bathes when you were two." Scott said. He certainly wasn't willing to take a bath with his baby brother. It felt too weird.

"Just this once?" Alan begged. "Bathes are no fun anymore."

"They aren't supposed to be fun sport, they're for getting clean." Scott stepped into the bathroom and closed the door before setting everything and everyone down before running up the bath for Alan. When it came to undressing Alan, the boy pouted and held resolutely onto the hem of his sleep shirt. "Alan, no…I'm not taking a bath with you. Now come on before I go tell grandma you're being unreasonable."

Alan's frown got bigger if that was possible and he released the hem of his shirt so Scott could undress him. Crossing his feet at the ankles as he was picked up, Alan shivered as the water washed up over him when he was lowered into the water. Scott used his hands and he washed the water up over Alan's neck and shoulders before easing the boy back into the water. Running some water over his head, Scott felt satisfied that Alan's itch was thwarted for the time being. Draining the water, Scott removed Alan from the tub before drying and dressing him for the day.

"There you go sprout. Now head on downstairs while I take a shower. We'll watch a movie together until grandma takes you into town." Scott ushered Alan along. Closing the bathroom door, Scott left Alan standing outside the door with a frown on his face. He didn't want to be left alone. Turning slowly, Alan made his way down the hall and the stairs. Hanging his head, he rounded the corner just in time to be swung up in the air by his arms.

"Rah! There you are Allie!" John hugged his baby brother and smiled when his mini-lookalike gave him a dimple filled smile. "Are you being a good boy for nana?"

"Yeah." Alan found he couldn't be upset when he was with John.

"Good to hear bud." John lifted Alan up to sit with his legs dangling on either side of his neck as he walked through the house. Craning his neck, he looked up at his baby brother. "So how are you doing in school kiddo? Making any friends?"

Alan shook his head as he looked away. "No one likes me."

"Sure they do kiddo. What makes you say that?" John tried to figure out why Alan would say he didn't have friends.

"They never let me play with them on the playground." Alan replied softly before he was removed from John's shoulders and sat in his brothers lap on the couch. "They chase me away."

"Aw, kiddo." John lightly rubbed his fingers through Alan's hair – sad that his little brother seemed to be facing the same thing he himself had faced when in Alan's grade.

"Page is my best friend…we play together every Saturday." Alan said in defense of his not having friends.

"Good to hear kid." John said as he turned on the television to put on either the Disney channel or Nickelodeon for Alan and soon to be Page. However, just as Alan was just getting settled – watching Mickey's Playhouse his grandma came in the room with Page. Page herself looked miserable and wouldn't quit squirming.

"John, can you do me a favor and keep an eye on Page for me? I need to take Alan with me for a little bit and we'll be gone for maybe an hour or so." Ruth swapped itchy child for itchy child and she hugged Alan close. "You baby are coming with me into town. We're meeting with the other kids for practice then we'll be back here shortly."

"Yay!" Alan swung his legs in excitement – his grandma had told him a few days ago that he could still be in the play because he wasn't the only one that was sick with the chicken pox.

"Let's get your jacket and we'll go." Ruth walked to the hallway closet to retrieve her and Alan's jackets.

"Where are you going grandma?" John sat on the couch holding the fidgeting Page in his arms.

"Alan has something going on with his class today and since everybody is sick – the teacher didn't see a point in cancelling since everybody has the chicken pox." Ruth replied as she set Alan on the floor in order for him to put his coat on. "We'll be back in about an hour or two. Please make sure your father doesn't burn the house down when he makes you all lunch…okay John?"

"Sure thing grandma." John said as he tightened his grip on Page in order to make her hold still and to quit trying to scratch.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Scott bounded down the stairs feeling fresh and clean after his shower. Rounding the corner into the living room, Scott opened his mouth to call out to his baby brother but stopped mid step when he noticed John and Page were sat on the couch watching an episode of CatDog. Looking around, Scott searched for his little brother.

"Who're you looking for Scott?" John broke his gaze from the television to look at his perplexed older brother.

"Alan, I told the kid to wait down here for me and I'd watch a movie with him when I got out of the shower." Scott continued to look around.

"He's not here. Grandma took him into town about twenty minutes ago, said they wouldn't be back for maybe an hour or hour and a half." John reached out and pulled Page's hand away from her knee where she was trying to scratch. "No touchy Page."

"Darn, if I'd known grandma was going to take him so soon, I'd have hung out more before he left." Scott frowned as he went to sit beside John on the couch. "Where are Virgil and Gordo?"

"They're gone to town with dad to pick up the bushel of apples grandma needs to make one of her apple cobblers. Just you me and little miss prissy here for the time being." John gestured with his head at Page who was trying to sneak a scratch behind her ear. "Page, stop or I'll let grandma know you weren't listening."

Page instantly lowered her hand and pouted.

"I wish Alan was back, he'd play with me."

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Alan stood on the stage holding a walking stick which doubled for a flagpole as he and several others disembarked the 'ship' which was actually just a wooden platform for the time being. The ship was almost done, it was just sitting backstage waiting for its final coat of varnish to cure.

"Billy, it is land!" One of the little girls said as she looked around the stage. "Where are we?"

"No fear Ms. Sadie, we are in a place full of nothing but open space!" Alan declared as he watched Ms. Peyton direct him to wave one arm in display of the new 'land'.

"But do we call this place?" Jared another little boy in the group asked as he squirmed. His back was itchy and he wanted to scratch.

"I dub the…the…Ms. Peyton I forgot." Alan looked disheartened as he admitted to forgetting his line. "I know it, but I don't 'member."

"That's okay Alan." Ms. Peyton walked up onto the stage before crouching down to meet the kids eyes. "You all are such fine little pilgrims."

"Thank you Ms. Peyton!" The group of twenty first graders replied as they smiled at their teacher.

"Now what do you say to taking a potty break and grab a quick snack?" Ms. Peyton asked as she tried to distinguish between those few kids doing the potty dance or squirming thanks to their chicken pox.

"Yes Ms. Peyton." Alan and the kids said as some of them jumped up and down – some in excitement for food and others because they had to go to the bathroom. Alan was one of the few that ran off the stage to grab a juice box that his grandma had stopped at the store to get for the group of children during their rehearsals.

"Grandma!" Alan ran into his grandma's arms when she leaned forward in her seat to give him a hug. "You like it?"

"I love it Alan. You make an amazing William Bradford." Ruth squeezed Alan and kissed his cheek. "Are you having fun?"

"Uh-huh!" Alan allowed his grandma to place him on her knee as he sat drinking his juice box.

"How are you feeling sweetheart?" Ruth smoothed back Alan's hair as she checked his fever and smiled to herself as she noticed Alan's fever was considerably lower than it had been before. The fever was still there, but not nearly as bad as it had been that morning before his bath.

"I'm still itchy." Alan backed up the statement with a scratch to his belly which Ruth instantly put a stop to.

"Don't scratch dear…think about how your arm felt last night." Ruth reminded Alan of the pain which woke him up when he'd unintentionally opened one of the pock marks in his sleep.

"Yes grandma." Alan pouted slightly that he still wasn't permitted to scratch at the itch.

Alan and several other children finished their snacks and juice boxes before getting back up on stage to continue their rehearsals. For another hour Alan and his class ran through their lines before they all were ushered into the cafeteria which acted as the backstage to get into costume for their dress rehearsal. Ruth had Alan standing on the table top as she made marks on his costume in order to complete the mending later that evening.

"There you are dear." Ruth finished making marks on Alan's costume before she set him on the floor to go join the other kids dressed in their pilgrim costumes. "Wait dear, you forgot your hat."

Alan stood still as his grandma put the hat on his head and made sure it was a snug fit. When Alan and the other kids were ready, Ms. Peyton had them go out in a single file to get in their places. Ruth followed before taking her seat with the other parents that were there until practice was over. Smiling warmly at her grandbaby – Ruth watched as they ran through their lines.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Arriving back home, Ruth picked up Alan from his booster seat and carried the tuckered out kid into the house. Stepping in through the door, Ruth took an appreciative smell of the scent in the house- it smelled like someone was making dinner. Walking into the living room, Ruth noticed Jeff sat on the couch talking to Carl Sanders. Carl was cradling his own sleeping child in his arms as he sat talking to his best friend from high school.

"I'd like that very much Jeff. I appreciate the offer." Carl nodded at whatever Jeff had said before looking at Ruth who was holding a sleeping Alan against her shoulder. "Hey Momma Ruth, how are you doing today?"

"I'm doing swell, thank you Carl." Ruth smiled at the man.

"Here mom, I'll take Alan for you." Jeff stood up to take Alan from his mom as he was sure Alan wasn't very light. Nestling his son's head into his shoulder, Jeff rocked Alan as he held him close. Turning his attention to his mom Jeff spoke. "How did Alan's practice go?"

"It went very good son. I think you and the boys will enjoy the play." Ruth said as she sat in her rocking chair before removing Alan's costume trousers to complete mending the hem of the pants now that she knew where the cuffs had to sit on Alan's legs. "Alan makes such a cute pilgrim."

"What's going on Momma Ruth?" Carl looked at his childhood best friend's mother with a questioning look.

"Alan's class is doing a school play tomorrow to kick-off the Thanksgiving Holiday." Ruth replied as she began sewing. "I've extended the invite for Jasmine to come also if you don't mind."

"Oh no, I don't mind one bit. Jasmine and her boyfriend are actually coming by my house for Thanksgiving dinner. Page asked to have Thanksgiving dinner with both her mom and dad and Jasmine and I are still friends." Carl shrugged as he glanced down at the apple of his eye. Page was sound asleep in her father's arms.

"Well, you and Jasmine are also more than welcome to come by to have dinner with us also. The four of you are more than welcome." Ruth extended the invite for Carl to bring Page, Jasmine and her boyfriend along for dinner or a visit. "It'll just be us here and you, Jasmine and Page are family."

"Thanks Momma Ruth, I'll let Jasmine know you've invited her and Warren over for dinner also. Depending on how Page is feeling will determine whether we show or not though." Carl smiled sadly that his little angel was covered just like Alan had been from head to toe in chicken pox. "Thank you for allowing Page to come stay with you and Alan for a few days."

"She was a treasure, it was no trouble." Ruth dismissed Carl's word of thanks. "You actually missed her and Alan dancing around the living room to Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music."

"Well, maybe if Page is feeling up for it…I can stop by with Jasmine and Warren and we can hang out Thanksgiving day and the kids can put on a little show for us." Carl shifted Page in his lap as he himself shifted in his seat.

"You know you are more than welcome to have dinner with us tonight Carl. Jeff will only be in town for a few days, might as well catch up while you're at it." Ruth advised.

"I'd like that. It was actually what Jeff was doing when you came back in. I think I'll consider it since Page won't be very riveting conversation." Carl shifted again. "Is there a bed I could put Page on Momma Ruth? I forgot how heavy she'd gotten."

"Sure dear. Let me go call Scott and John and they can take Alan and Page up to Alan's room to rest." Ruth put down her sewing to go to the kitchen in order to retrieve her two eldest grandsons.

"Thanks Momma Ruth." Carl gave a relieved sigh when John entered the room following Ruth and Scott before the elder blonde removed Page from her father's arms. Scott took Alan from his father and together the two teens left the room wordlessly so as to not awaken their two charges.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

When Alan and Page woke up a short while later they were both snuggled up beneath Alan's quilt. Rubbing their eyes, they both looked at each other in confusion. They couldn't remember how they'd gotten there.

"Where's my daddy?" Page sat and looked around for her dad.

"Where's my grandma?" Alan pushed his quilt back before slipping from his bed. Waiting for Page – Alan stood near his bedroom door. When Page joined him at the door, the two little kids joined hands before going down the stairs.

"Daddy?" Page released Alan's hand before walking towards her dad.

"Hi baby girl, how was your nap?" Carl picked up his daughter and sat her on his lap.

"Good." Page scrubbed at an eye before she yawned. "Allie woke up too daddy."

"I can see that." Carl smiled at the little boy that had come and stayed the weekend with him and Page before. "And how was your nap Alan?"

"Good, where's my grandma?" Alan looked around as he took notice of his family's absence. "Where are daddy and my brothers?"

"Your grandma is in the kitchen and your dad and brothers are around here somewhere, but you can't go into the kitchen just yet." Carl motioned for Alan to come over and sit on the couch with him and Page.

"How come?" Alan walked over to stand before Carl.

"Because your grandma is cooking and asked that you stay in here with me and Page." Carl set Page down on the floor as he turned on the television. Directing his question at Page, Carl spoke. "Do you mind showing me what you and Alan were doing the other day sweetheart?"

"Yeah! Come on Allie!" Page took Alan by the hand.

Carl kept Alan and Page distracted as he kept them engaged in The Sound of Music. It wasn't until Scott entered the room and sat Alan on his lap before something unexpected happened for Alan. John entered the living room followed by Virgil, Gordon, and Grandma all singing Happy Birthday and Jeff entered carrying a birthday cake. Coming to a stop before Alan, everyone finished singing before Scott told Alan to blow out his candles.

"But it's not my birthday." Alan looked around before eyeing the birthday cake which his father held.

"We know, but this is a late birthday party for you since we missed your sixth birthday. Go on ahead and blow out your candles sprout." John said as he sat beside Scott and Alan on the couch. "You've even got some presents that need opening kiddo."

"Really?" Alan looked at John with a smile. At John's nod, Alan looked back over at his dad.

"Really Alan…now go on ahead and blow out your candles." Jeff knelt down in front of Alan and held the cake up for his little boy to blow out his candles. "Happy late birthday son."

A smile spread across Alan's face and he took a huge breath before blowing out all six candles in one blow. Everyone cheered for Alan after he blew out his candles and Scott squeezed the little boy in his lap with a bear hug.

After the candles were blown out on Alan's birthday cake, they all sat down to have a bite despite it being before dinner and Alan tore into his presents from his brothers and father. Alan held up with Scott and John's help a train set that could be built around a pedestal in Alan's room so that he could watch his train putter around whenever he felt like it. And Page gave Alan her favorite teddy which she'd brought with her to the sleepover with a frown.

"You keep it." Alan knew that without teddy, Page couldn't sleep and he didn't want to see Page sad.

"But I don't have a pwesent for you." Page pouted more, but Carl had just the remedy for that and with a wink he pulled out his wallet and removed a five dollar bill.

"Here Page sweetheart, give Alan this for his birthday." Carl placed the five dollar bill in Page's hand and smiled at his little girl. Page looked at the five dollars and grinned before handing it to Alan.

"Thanks you Page." Alan accepted the five dollars more readily than the teddy bear and he reached out to hug Page. The two little chickenpox riddled children looked plum adorable and everyone couldn't help but to smile at the sight.

"Okay everyone. It's about time we all sat down and had dinner. We've got a lot to do tomorrow and we all need to be off to bed at a decent hour." Ruth called the room to order and everybody besides Page and Alan nodded in acceptance of the rules. Scott who was still holding Alan, picked up his little brother and carried him to the kitchen to eat his dinner. Everybody gathered around the table and ate dinner in peace. For Alan and Page though it was an itchy affair for them. Carl, Scott, Ruth and Jeff kept either reaching over to halt the children's hands when they began to scratch at their chickenpox or they'd lightly reprimand them, reminding them not to scratch. Needless to say that neither child was very happy.

When dinner came to a close, everybody moved back into the living room to sit and talk amiably while Alan and Page played with a couple of Alan's belated birthday presents. Scott sat on the floor with Alan and Page and was showing the two kids how to set up the board game they had picked out.

"It goes like this…you see?" Scott looked at his baby brother and his friend as their eyes widened in awe at how the game was set up. "Then you move your pieces and when you reach this point you…mousetrap!"

Alan and Page giggled when Scott moved his piece under the trap and released the setup to trap his mouse character. After both little kids got their giggling under control, Scott re-set up the game and he started off so the kids might understand the concept. John, Virgil and Gordon joined in the game and soon the entire living room was filled with brotherly jabs over who was winning and calls of '_it's my turn!_'. As the clock struck nine in the evening, it wasn't lost on anyone in the room that there were two individuals that were darn close to being asleep. Carl called it a night as he walked over to pick up Page who was having a hard time holding her head up. Jeff did likewise and he picked up Alan who also like Page could barely keep his eyes open.

"Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you all tomorrow provided Page is feeling okay. If not we'll try to shoot for Thanksgiving Day. I'm sure Page should be feeling better by then." Carl stuck out a hand to shake Jeff's hand as did Jeff and they both smiled as they heard simultaneous snores from either child sleeping on their shoulders.

"Drive safe Carl." Jeff smiled at his childhood friend.

"We will, It was nice seeing you again Jeff and I just wanted to let you know that Alan is a wonderful little guy." Carl said, stopping when Scott began waving his hands. "What?"

"Alan doesn't like being called little. He got mad at me and Virgil yesterday for calling him little. He was pretty defensive of his growth spurt." Scott said as he glanced over at Alan who was thankfully asleep, so he hadn't heard Carl's statement about him being little.

"Well thanks for the warning." Carl chuckled as he accepted Page's jacket and putting it on his little girl singlehandedly. "I'd better get going."

"Have a good evening dear." Ruth said as she gently closed the door after Carl walked outside. Once Carl and Page had left, Jeff patted Alan on the back. "I'm going to put him to bed."

"Dad, can you put Alan in my bed? I kind of promised him we could sleep together this evening." Scott said as he smiled at his baby brother's relaxed face. He was so cute and Scott just couldn't fathom how he could ever have blamed Alan for their mother's death. It was an accident. A toddler was not responsible for an avalanche, especially one that had likely been snuggled up in his mother's arms beside the fire sipping hot chocolate. Or in Alan's case, drinking a bottle.

"Sure Scott, as long as you don't mind." Jeff grinned at Scott when his sixteen year old son smiled like a little kid in a candy shop.

"I don't mind at all. And Alan seemed to get more sleep." Scott said as cover for the fact that he too had slept better having his little brother closer.


	5. Happy Thanksgiving

The following morning found Scott, wriggling around in his bed with a grimace. Alan was still very much asleep and Scott somehow managed to get on the other side of Alan while he slept and he had to go to the bathroom urgently. Moving slowly, Scott managed to untangle himself from the bed covers, keeping Alan covered up and slip from his bed to pad down the hall.

Just as Scott finished taking care of his urgent need, a soft knock on the door had Scott calling out.

"Just a minute I'll be right out." Scott said as he flushed the toilet and moved to wash his hands. He heard a whimper on the other side of the door and thought to open the door. There stood Alan, his hands over his bladder, legs crossed and knees locked as a look of pain crossed his face. "Sprout, what's up?"

"I gots to pee." Alan whimpered. Scott deciding on being helpful picked up his baby brother and carried him into the bathroom, placing him in front of the toilet.

"Go ahead and go potty Sprout. I'll be right back with some clothes for you and then you can have your bath." Scott turned to leave and he couldn't hide the smirk at hearing Alan humming the potty training song his grandma had taught him. Alan had no patience for hanging around in the bathroom, so their grandma introduced Alan to a song to sing so he'd complete his business and NOT be bored out of his mind doing it. Scott couldn't help but smirk at hearing it. Even at six Alan was adorable.

When Scott returned, he saw Alan sitting patiently on the footstool their grandma placed in the bathroom so Alan could reach the sink enough to wash his hands and be a big boy. The boy was sitting on his hands as the obvious urge to scratch rolled over Alan in waves. Running the bath, Scott quickly fell into routine since he'd been doing this for Alan for the past several days. Scott swiftly got Alan undressed and in the bath in no time at all and had Alan sit and soak for a few minutes until the urge to scratch faded away.

"Are you feeling any better Sprout?" Scott looked to his brother, surprised that after almost a week of having them – Alan still had the chicken pox. And they didn't appear to be going away anytime soon.

"A little. I still itch though." Alan replied as he shrugged his naked shoulders.

"It won't be forever Al, I promise. A few more days then you'll be right as rain." Scott said as he cupped his hands in the water and dropped water over Alan's head. Alan opened his eyes and just stared at Scott when his bath came to an end. Scott grabbed a fluffy towel and cocooned Alan within it. Cradling his brother in his arms, Scott was reluctant to put Alan down, but decided to do so because he could smell breakfast and boy did it smell good. There was a plate of blueberry pancakes downstairs with his name on it. And a small plate with Alan's name on it.

Hurriedly dressing Alan, Scott swung his little brother up and over his shoulders in a koala hold and walked swiftly down the stairs to get their breakfast before the others woke up and inhaled their portions.

Ruth looked up when Scott entered the room with Alan slung over his shoulder and she grinned at Alan's giggles. The little boy seemed to be feeling well and the better for him as well. He had to get his breakfast eaten, and then Ruth needed to take him down to the high school so he and the rest of his classmates could get into costume. They were the third play going on after the preschool, kindergarten classes did their performances. It'd be just a little past lunch and once Alan had been dropped off, she needed to come back and create lunch for Alan and his classmates so they wouldn't get grumpy after the play. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were on the house for the twenty of them.

Scott removed Alan from his shoulders and placed him in his booster seat before taking his own fork and knife and cutting up Alan's pancakes to sizable chunks so Alan wouldn't choke. Once that had been done, Alan actually felt well enough to devour his breakfast and when he'd finished; his grandma instructed him to go brush his teeth and get his shoes on. Scott looked at his grandma with confusion as he wasn't aware that Alan had to go anywhere – not during the Thanksgiving holiday. Never the less when Alan returned coat in hand and shoes untied, Scott couldn't help but to be swayed to tie Alan's shoes as the little boy walked up and held his sneakered foot up for Scott to tie the shoe.

"Alan, you know how to tie your shoes." Ruth chided as Alan balanced on one foot, his other foot in Scott's lap as the teen put down his fork to tie his little brother's shoes for the first time in ever. Alan had already known how to tie his shoes when he was three surprisingly and he wouldn't let anybody help him with it no matter how long it took for him to figure out that to create the bow you had to over, under and around again.

"Its okay grandma…I don't mind." Scott replied as he tapped Alan's foot to signify that he was done tying that shoe and he wanted the other one to tie as well. Alan pulled that foot off of Scott's knee and put the other one up in its place and held onto the table to maintain his balance. When Scott finished tying that shoe he helped Alan into his jacket and put a beanie on Alan's head because the boy was still running a slight fever and shouldn't catch a chill because he went outside with a fever.

"Okay, Scott – I'll be back in a little bit. If your father or brothers wake up make sure they eat because when I get back I want the kitchen cleaned so I can get in here to begin fixing lunch for Alan and a few of his classmates." Ruth said as she held out Alan's mittens to put on. "Come along darling, we need to get going."

"Okay nana." Alan shuffled out the front door to his grandma's car. Scott remained in his seat at the table as he watched his grandma's car pull away from the drive and disappear down the stretch of road towards the highway.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Alan sat at the table in the lunchroom of the high school – he was getting some 'dirt' marks put on his face as he was supposed to be a settler from Plymouth Rock who had brought some colonists along to create a new life in the new world. His teacher Ms. Peyton came into the room dressed in period costume the same as her students and she gathered each other children.

"Okay kids, the crowds are beginning to show up. I want everyone to go potty before we go on stage because once we're up there we can't stop to have a pit stop…okay?" Ms. Peyton looked at the kids and she had them all line up. There was one line of boys and one line of girls before Ms. Peyton led them all through the doors, past the audience to the bathroom downstairs. Alan wearing his pilgrim costume walked in the middle of the line, behind a couple of turkeys and in front of two ears of corn. He saw his grandma talking to his dad and saw Scott talking to some of his old school friends before they'd moved away and he wanted to go see them, but knew he could wait until after the play to say hi. Gordon spotted either the two children behind Alan dressed as ears of corn, Alan dressed as a pilgrim with white tights on under his 'knickers' as his nana called them or the couple of turkeys that walked in front of him and giggled visibly as he drew John's attention to them walking through the audience. There were calls of 'aw' and 'how precious are they?' before Alan and his classmates made it beyond the door to head downstairs to the bathroom.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Gordon sat staring at the back of some lady's overly large hat sullenly. He couldn't see and he was bored. His grandma had told him and his brothers that they were going to some festival at the high school to kick off their Thanksgiving weekend and really all he wanted to do was lay around his grandma's house with his little brother and watch movies with the kid. True he was ill, but that didn't bother Gordon one bit. He still loved his little brother, chicken pox or not.

Chuckles and words of 'aw' drew his attention though towards the aisle and he saw a bunch of kids dressed in costume. He laughed at the turkeys and ears of corn, but he got excited when he spotted his little brother dressed in costume also. Grabbing John's arm, he pointed at the throng of children and got the elder blonde to look at them also. John just about melted at the sight of his polka-dotted little brother dressed as a pilgrim. Now Gordon couldn't wait for the festival to begin…Scott had gotten him a candied apple and now he was happy. He had goodies in one hand and his dad must have felt sorry for his second youngest because he picked up the eleven year old so he could sit in his dad's lap in order to see over the people's heads.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

When it was Alan's classes' turn to begin their play, Alan looked at his teacher Ms. Peyton for reassurance.

"Okay Alan, here's your telescope now let's get you up in the ship." Ms. Peyton lifted Alan up and put him up in the ship – true he could have used the stairs that had been built into the back of the ship, but he was already in his place. "Now what's your first line Alan?"

"Avast…I see land?" Alan pointed in the general direction where Plymouth Rock was supposed to be situated and he smiled nervously when Ms. Peyton smiled with a nod.

"That's right Alan." Ms. Peyton said as she gently patted Alan's cheek. Gathering her large skirt and petticoat, Ms. Peyton walked out onto the stage to open her student's play with a quick narration of how the pilgrims came to leave their original country to set sail for a new land. As soon as she finished her narration, she held her hands out to welcome the ship onto the stage carrying the polka dotted pilgrims.

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Alan picked up his telescope and held it up looking offstage before he turned to one of the female settlers. "Avast! I see land!" Alan lowered the telescope to point in the direction which he saw land and the female settler hugged him as she exclaimed.

"Billy! I see the land! Is that our new home?"

"It is dear Emily the land awaits us!" Alan replied making all the pilgrims on the ship with him and Emily cheer in exultation.

"But what will we do when we make it?" One of Alan's classmates, a little boy asked as he looked to the audience with a shrug of his shoulders.

Alan looked puzzled for a moment and crossed his arms as if in deep thought. He bit his lip as he tried to remember his line and suddenly an idea came to him and he went with it. "We'll play Red Rover and eat ice cream!"

The audience roared with laughter at Alan's improvisation and his classmates had no qualms because they cheered at the idea of being able to eat ice cream and play Red Rover as long as they wanted.

Alan feeling proud of himself despite his forgotten line pointed in the direction of land and cheered out his remembered line. "Land ho!"

The lights on the stage dropped to near darkness and when the lights came back up Alan was leading his classmates across the stage, including a couple of kids dressed as turkeys. They looked around like they were checking out their new location, the girl Emily as she was referred to held Alan's hand as he lead them across the stage.

"Billy, where are we?" Emily asked as she looked around.

Alan who played the role of 'Billy' or William Bradford took a few more steps ahead of the group before turning to the colony of seventeen colonists and two turkeys. Taking a step back, Alan dropped Emily's hand before raising his arms in display. "We are in Plymouth Rock!"

The seventeen colonists oohed and awed over their new location. Emily once more took up Alan's hand as she looked at 'Billy' and smiled. "Is this our new home Billy?"

"Yes, sweet Emily…this Plymouth Rock is our new home." Alan smiled at his classmate as she kissed his cheek eliciting the audience to titter and murmur 'aw' again. "Come, let us begin the start of our new lives."

Alan led the colonists and turkeys off stage as the lights dimmed down once more. When the lights came back up, the set was different with wooden houses erected and fake trees in place. Alan stood with a few male classmates as they tilled the ground where they stood with plastic garden implements. Emily and a few girls dressed in period costume came walking on set holding the hands of a child dressed as an ear of corn. Alan turned when Emily called out 'Billy' to gain his attention.

"What is that?" Alan leaned his hoe against one of the plywood houses and approached Emily and a few of the girls. "What is this?"

"It's gold Billy! We're rich!" One of the girls that came on set with Emily and the ear of corn cried.

"This isn't gold…it's smells sweet." Alan sniffed the costumed child to make a point and declared that the ear of corn was not gold but something else.

"I know what it is!" A child walked out on stage dressed as a native American. It was a little boy wearing 'deer hide' clothes, with a feather stuck in his hair. He had a couple markings on his freckled cheeks to signify that he was not a settler like they were but someone who'd lived on the land before them. "It's called…corn."

"Corn? What is corn?" Alan asked as he turned away from the child dressed as the ear of corn to face the native American. "Who are you?"

"I am S-Sq-Squan-to, I am Squanto!" The child exclaimed as he introduced his character. "And who are you?"

"I am Billy and this is my wife Emily. We are the pilgrims of Plymouth Rock!" Alan felt proud of himself after that line; he and his grandma had rehearsed that line practically to death – because Alan kept pronouncing Plymouth as Ply-Mouth not Plymouth. So the fact that he got it right made him beam with pride.

"Hi Billy and Emily of Plymouth Rock…welcome to this place!" 'Squanto' said as he stepped forward to greet Alan and Emily.

"So what do you do with this…corn?" Alan reached back and grabbed the walking ear of corn's hand and pulled it forward as a showcase.

"You eat it. It's yummy too!" Squanto rubbed his tummy to signify how yummy corn was supposed to be. "Come, take as much as you need. It will all grow back."

The following scene was Alan and the group of settlers carrying small baskets full of vegetables with Squanto and other children dressed as natives also. At one point Alan talked to Squanto while Emily and the other settlers continued picking vegetables.

"Squanto, how do you do this?" Alan asked as he waved his hand back with a flourish.

"What?" Squanto missed the point of the question so he was confused.

"How do you grow this? It's great!" Alan looked at the tall stacks of corn and the tilled ground where tomato plants held large round tomatoes.

"We bury the seeds from the plants and they grow back." Squanto said as he removed a bag from his hip to show it to Alan. "I will show you!"

Alan and Squanto walked off stage together as the lights dropped once more and the lights came back up in front of the settler's cabins. Alan and Emily were hugging before a flourishing garden as Squanto came back on set dressed in a deer hide shawl.

"Squanto! We did it! Look at the garden!" Emily strode forward and hugged Squanto in excitement over their garden being so big and so beautiful.

"I see that Emily." Squanto hugged Emily back before he walked up to inspect another ear of corn. He helped two children dressed as ears of corn up to their feet and he walked across the stage with them. "These ears of corn are amazing! Good job."

"We shall prepare a feast to celebrate, please you must join us!" Alan walked up to shake Squanto's hands. Alan shook Squanto's hands a little too exuberantly for the child's headdress began to fall off, but Emily saved it because walked up and pulled Alan away to further inspect their garden. Squanto fixed his headdress before accepting Alan's request for a feast. A couple of high schoolers dressed as settlers also walked out onto the stage with a couple benches and seats before placing a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches down for the pilgrims feast. The turkeys, ears of corn and pilgrims all sat down with Squanto and the tribe that had helped them earlier with growing their own gardens. "Thank you Squanto, thank you everyone! Now let us eat this wonderful feast that Emily and the girls have so nicely made for us."

Before taking a bite of their feast, Alan and the rest of the first grade class stood up and faced the audience. "Happy Thanksgiving everyone!"

The crowd stood to applaud the first grade class on their play and the kids all walked off stage. Ms. Peyton walked back out onto the stage clapping as well, proud of her first graders for putting on such a wonderful play. "Please give it up for the Polka-Dotted Pilgrims folks!"

At the curtain call Alan and the rest of his class walked back out on stage again in a single file line to take a bow. Ms. Peyton identified each child and who their character was and when she'd called Alan's name the back half of the audience erupted in cheers and claps as Scott and John where the two louder noise makers. The entire family cheered for Alan as he stepped forward to take a bow once more before getting back in line. They all took another bow before the curtain closed, giving all the children a chance to sit at the bench that had been placed during the last scene to eat their sandwiches which Ruth prepared for them.

When they'd all finished, Ms. Peyton walked out with them so they could sit with their family and Jeff picked Alan up and hugged him tightly.

"Mmm, Alan I am so proud of you!" Jeff kissed Alan's cheek as he hugged his youngest close. "You did such a good job!"

"Yeah Sprout you did a great job!" Scott said as he jiggled Alan's leg. Jeff sat back down with Alan in his lap to watch the next play that was being put on by the second grade class.

Alan watched the plays up until they got to the fourth grade before his eyes slipped closed in fatigue. He snuggled into Jeff's arms, turning slightly and putting his thumb in his mouth. Jeff smiled warmly at the gesture and he looked at Scott. The eldest brother removed his jacket which he'd laid over his lap and draped it over Alan as he napped in his dad's arms. Rocking Alan gently, Jeff continued to watch the plays, happy that he'd returned to Kansas to visit Alan and his mother. He was happy that he hadn't missed this play. It'd been fantastic, despite being done by a bunch of first graders.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Later that day when they returned Jeff carried Alan in his arms as the boy was out like a light. Lucky Alan was still so small, he could still easily be carried by his dad or older brothers and grandma. Jeff took Alan and lay him on the couch in the living room before shushing his other sons that laughed over the plays they'd watched that day. Everyone was in agreement that Alan's play was the best though and that Alan did a great job as William Bradford.

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A few days later on Thanksgiving Day found Alan feeling better and laying on his tummy in the living room with Gordon, both boys still in their pajamas watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the television. Scott was in the kitchen helping his grandma while their dad was upstairs in the shower. Virgil and John however were both fighting over who was going to lick the spatula after their grandma finished making her homemade whipped cream to put on the apple and pumpkin pies they were having for dessert.

"I'll decide for you two…each of you can have one…do you hear me? One teaspoon of whipped cream, the spatula goes to your father. He loves whipped cream." Ruth proclaimed, making John and Virgil groan. They both actually could have licked the other side of the spatula and essentially shared, but instead they had to eat it from a teaspoon.

"Okay grandma." Both boys groaned, before digging a teaspoon out of the drawer and dipping once into the bowl of whipped cream.

"And don't forget to take one to Alan and Gordon in the living room…okay?" Ruth eyed them as their eyes rolled back in their heads at the taste of homemade whipped cream. It tasted like heaven to them.

"Sure Grandma." John grabbed two more teaspoons from the drawer and got a dollop of whipped cream on each spoon before going out to the living room to give both boys a taste of homemade whipped cream. Alan he was sure got homemade whipped cream more often than they did considering he lived with their grandma and she was always baking or cooking something. But that didn't stop the grin that broke out across John's face at the sight of Alan's larger than life smile when he tasted the whipped cream. "Is that good Sprout?"

"Mmm-hmm." Alan had the spoon in his mouth and his eyes were closed in ecstasy at the taste of the whipped cream. He loved whipped cream. But he liked it better than the canned stuff, that stuff wasn't creamy enough. He liked helping his grandma blend the whipping cream and sugar to the right consistency. It made the whipped cream taste so much better when it was made fresh rather than have it in a can. Alan got up and went into the kitchen and was gone for a few minutes before Scott came out carrying a tray with five mugs of what smelled like hot chocolate with a dollop of whipped cream each.

"How'd you do that?" John looked at Alan, surprised that Alan had been able to get more whipped cream for them to have with their hot chocolate.

"I just asked for a hot cocoa." Alan said as he sat down before taking the mug Scott handed to him. "Thank you!"

"No problem Sprout." Scott replied as he doled out the hot chocolate mugs to each of his brothers. He laughed at the look on John's face before agreeing. "He's telling the truth John. He just asked grandma if he could have some hot chocolate and she said he could if we could have some also. When I started to bring it out, Alan asked if he could have whipped cream on his cocoa and grandma said the same thing. He could if we could also.

"I love you Sprout." John replied as he hugged his little brother in thanks for getting them hot chocolate with whipped cream. '_Score!'_

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Later that evening, Scott carried Alan down the stairs after waking the kid from his nap. John came down carrying a groggy Page as well. As it turns out, Page didn't have the chickenpox half as bad as Alan had them and she was better in less than four days. Everyone was happy for that. Because now Alan was feeling better also and he actually had the energy to play with Page and the two of them had spent the day either outside playing in the pile of leaves that Scott had raked up or inside watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving reruns on the television set. The two little kids had migrated upstairs of their own steam and had crawled into Alan's bed to take a nap a short time after four that afternoon and it was only after scouring the house that Scott and John discovered both children fast asleep upstairs.

"Oh good, you found them." Jeff said as he looked at his groggy little boy. His blue eyes were hooded and he rubbed tiredly at his eyes. He'd likely be having an early bedtime tonight. "Where were they?"

"In Alan's bed taking a nap." John said as he set Page in Jasmine's arms. Carl and Jasmine smiled happily at their little angel who like Alan was having a hard time opening their peepers.

"Did you have fun this afternoon sweetheart?" Carl murmured to Page as she rubbed her eyes. Page nodded slowly before the smell of turkey and ham made her eyes open slowly. She like Alan stared at the meal that was laid out on the table and smiled widely. Setting Page in a chair between them, Carl and Jasmine dished up a plate of dinner for Page before dishing up for themselves. Scott fixed Alan a plate and cut up his turkey so Alan could eat it easily without choking.

"This smells great grandma." Scott said as he eyed the thanksgiving feast with wide eyes, wondering how much he could honestly eat before he popped. He was determined to have a second helping as well as some pie. He hadn't lived until he'd tasted the pie!

"Well thank you Scott, but thank Jasmine also. She was a big help in there today." Ruth said as she turned the spotlight on the young woman who had been welcome in her home the same as Carl was – after all Jasmine and Carl both used to be Jeff's closest friends in high school.

"Oh Momma Ruth, don't pass off the credit to me. I only helped with stuffing the turkey, you did the rest." Jasmine said as she like Scott did began cutting up Page's dinner so she could eat.

"Oh alright." Ruth said accepting the credit like it was a chore to do. "Alan dear, when you and Page are finished why don't you go put on Lion King until I call your for dessert?" Ruth suggested as she noticed that in the few minutes that Alan had been at the table, he'd already inhaled everything on his plate. Obviously not hungry anymore either if him rubbing his tummy was anything to go on.

"Yes Nana." Alan finished licking his spoon which he'd eaten his peas off of and stood up to put his plate in the kitchen. Page finished shortly thereafter, both children having less on their plates so they finished quicker than the older folks who required more food to get by on.

Alan and Page went in the living room and sat down a few feet from the television before the Disney Palace came on with the fanfare. The rest of the adults continued conversation and Jeff broached the subject that he'd been talking with his mom about prior to him and the boys flying in to see Alan and Ruth.

"So mom, going back to our earlier conversation a few days ago…when would you like to return?" Jeff asked, mindful that Alan and Page could still potentially eavesdrop. "I can have the villa ready at any time."

"I know dear, but let's give it until this summer. It wouldn't be fair to just uproot Alan from all he's known around here and place him in a home study scenario." Ruth said as she took a sip of tea.

"Did I miss something?" Scott asked as he stilled from shoveling mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Nothing, your grandma and I were just discussing some changes." Jeff said, not wanting his boys to get overly excited and alert Alan to the surprise that awaited him this summer.

Scott finished his dinner in a few more bite and he leaned back in his seat, patting his stomach happily. "That was some of the best dinner I've ever had grandma."

"I'm glad you liked it Scott." Ruth replied as she stood to take her empty plate from the table. Scott jumped to and helped his grandma with clearing the table and when he'd finished – he moved into the living room and sat down beside Alan and Page. He pulled Alan into his lap and turned his attention to the television. He watched as Simba and Nala scampered around through the safari and caused trouble for Zazu while singing "I can't wait to be king".

Alan and Page laughed loudly when Zazu got crushed by the animals when they came toppling down out of their pyramid. After a little bit Ruth called Scott, Alan, Page, Virgil, Gordon and John back to the kitchen. It was time to have some pie and Scott just picked up both Alan and Page, carrying the both of them in separate arms. Alan and Page cackled as Scott was holding them around their ribs which were terribly ticklish.

The rest of the night was spent together as a family and after Carl, Jasmine and Page left – Jeff who held a slumbering Alan in his arms once more couldn't knock the feeling that everything was going to get better. He had his little boy back in his life and soon his mother and youngest soon would be replaced with them as a family. This was a happy thanksgiving…indeed.

END

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><p><em><strong>So I hope you've all enjoyed this story, I had a lot of fun writing it. I'm still working on the sequel to Never Stop Looking and I'm gradually adding more to Rising From The Ashes. Thanks for any and all reviews, I greatly appreciate your feedback!<strong>_

_**Hope you all have had a Happy Turkey Day yourselves - Gobble-Gobble**_

_**~Angel~**_


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